Ian Pethick

Finally confirming the rumours that had been swirling for over a week now, will be interesting to read the official Plymouth Parkway statement. This all feels like a pretty sorry episode, with very little to celebrate. Truro certainly need to come up with good news regarding the new ground to shift the focus away from this farce.

Given how many pitch maintenance and management experts we have on this forum, I'm surprised that local clubs struggle for volunteer groundstaff. 😁

Guess all eyes will be on the Bolitho Park pitch now with Parkway v Didcot scheduled for tomorrow night, and Truro v Eastbourne due to be played on Saturday. Heavy rain forecast in the Plymouth area for overnight tonight, and then for late afternoon into the evening on Thursday.

Slightly off topic, but do we still have "sine die" (effective a lifetime ban). Back in my Pymouth Sunday league days of the late 80's/90's, there were a few of them handed out.

Happens with regularity unfortunately. Torpoint's Jason Richards sat on the bench for Parkway earlier in the season whilst serving a suspension picked up after receiving a red card playing for his usual club. Nothing illegal, but is it in the spirit of the game? In my humble opinion, banned means banned.

Am I correct in saying that Max Gilbert, who has an impending suspension following his sending off v Wadebridge last week, would still be able to play step 4 football for Tavi whilst serving it at step 6 level?

Think the re org/merger is as dead as a dead parrot. Some day we might see minutes of what happened and was said in smoke filled FA rooms. Only then will we understand the promises made and broken, what the red lines were and who crossed them and the involvement of the various personalities and vested interests.

That's what I can't put my finger on as well. You would have thought that pictures of the new ground, players in hi viz vests at the building site and the like would be all over social and print media. To my knowledge, there's nothing beyond #FootballsComingHome on all the club's tweets. If they were looking to engage supporters past and present while attracting those new to the club (Eric Perez talked about wanting kids walking around wearing Truro City shirts) then there would be major promotional drives happening now, but it seems nothing is happening. Persistent rumours knocking around various forums that Langarth will not be ready for the start of season 2024/25, and the lack of communication coming from Truro City just fuels this.

Almost impossible to compare different pitches. So many things such as slopes, how much sun it gets, different soil types, a high water table as a result of having a nearby river, how sheltered it is from the wind and if it has trees surrounding it mean they all have their particular individual issues and traits. Sure Older would have had many thoughts on this Lux Park, Liskeard had a reputation as a poorly draining pitch in the 90's after the building of the leisure centre at one end seemed to alter its character. Marsh Parc at Callington is another problematic one, it has that name for a reason.

"Shaun The Book." 🤣

Internet seems to be down in the Blazey area tonight.🙄 Buckland answer their critics after the midweek "horror show." Very competitive league with a lot of football still to play.

Combination of financial and fixture pressures means that clubs are desperate to get games played. Losing a Saturday home match potentially means a lot of food and drink revenue lost (doubt that midweek rearrangements bring in the same money) , and we are now down to about 11 weeks left in the season so gaps in the calender to fit them in are now running out (still every chance we'll get more poor weather as well).

Moaning again. 🙄

Truro are very well organised, resilient and work hard, but do look one dimensional going forward with little coming from wide areas. For whatever reason, Danny Sullivan seems to have slipped down the pecking order, he has been the player in the past that has offered a bit of imagination and flair going forward. In the formation that Wotton always goes with, the wing backs are vital. As I said before, Riley-Lowe looks like a square peg in a round hole on the right and (in my opinion) Ryan Law was pretty average on the left. Doesn't look the player he was a few seasons ago. Truro are in a league now with clubs that employ scouts and analysts (you can also find highlights reels of them all), perhaps they just get worked out.

Bit of a dour first half with Hampton scoring early,but then being unable to break down a very solid Truro backline that sat deep, and City offering little beyond long balls in the rough direction of Rocky Neal and Tyler Harvey. Ollie Bray (on for Neal at half time) scored with his first touch as a Truro player after being set up by Connor Riley-Lowe who is class act, but what is he doing playing right wing back?Looks a bit awkward and is constantly trying to get onto his stronger left foot. Bray injected a bit of thrust and dynamism into their play, I was quite impressed by him. He also had the effect of shocking Harvey into action a bit, either side of the Hampton straight red, he headed a ball onto the roof of the net and also drew a fine save from the keeper with another close range header. He is a player that can veer from uninterested to a nuisance, suddenly he was showing for every ball and chasing lost causes. Hampton continued to try and batter their way through the middle, with Ben Seymour particularly ineffective as Ed Palmer and co bottled him up. Their winner came when the finally fashioned a move down the right in the 80th minute, which resulted in a neat headed finish for the winner. No doubt Paul Wotton will say in his post match comments that Truro deserved something from the game (he usually does), on this occasion I agree with him. The harsh fact is though that this is a 3rd straight defeat, something they need to arrest pretty quickly starting with the home/away/who knows game against struggling Taunton on Tuesday. Oh, and on the subject of the pitch (the current hot topic for Truro) like a bowling green at Hampton & Richmond FC. Bit of mud in both 6 yard boxes, but otherwise superb for February.

Would have thought the change of ownership at City would have ushered in a new era of engagement with their past, current and future supporter base. Rumours and conjecture about them seeing out the season on Taunton's ground are swirling around the various forums and social media sites. Nothing from the club either confirming or denying this and giving reasons for the fixture "reversal."

Tuesday night match between Truro and Taunton now reversed, and will be played at Wordsworth Drive. Probably a sensible decision that eases the pressure on the Bolitho pitch.Does raise the question of what now happens on Saturday March 2nd when Taunton were due to be home to Truro, Parkway are fixtured to be playing at home against Salisbury on that day. Guess one of these games is going to have to shift to Friday night or even Sunday afternoon to accommodate both.

My mistake , National League.

Cannot see any way that the Southern League would allow that. Wordsworth Drive has also been prone to waterlogging this season and has seen plenty of cancellations.

Some big signings made in the summer made by a bright young manager, many people (including myself) thought that this finally going to the year that it all fell into place for Buckland. Could still be of course, very much in the play off picture, and a lot of football to play in a league that keeps offering up plot twists.

Looking at the full time site, he's only played 9 times for the Western League side this season. Clearly a player of promise for the future, wondered if he had left or was injured.

Yes, would be nice to hear a progress report from the new owners or their representatives. Would think that some sort of promotional campaign will be be getting underway to build awareness in the area and sell season tickets, not to mention getting pre season friendlies at their new home arranged. Am I also correct in thinking that April 1st (2 months away now), is the deadline for Truro City to inform the National League where they will be playing next season?

Blazey just 6 pts off 5th placed Buckland. With just 10 games left, could they have a late run towards the play offs? Great crowd last night, shows that the Cornish football people come out for the big games. Just a shame that it didn't get played on the original Saturday, could have had double (or even treble) the 333 gate. On a separate note, what has happened to Rio Ward? Thought of as a wonderkid at Blazey last season, doesn't seem to be involved at the moment.

Callum English-Brown. Zimbabwe under 20 international and recently joined Yate from the wonderfully named Chicken Inn FC of Harare. Has trialled with numerous clubs in Europe, including Everton. Another one who's probably playing below himself at step 4 level.

Just wonder how much "been here before and won it" comes into play now. St Austell have several players with multiple titles and cup wins, Liskeard don't. Although of course Darren Gilbert has plenty of honours both as player and manager, and knows what it involves.