By Gareth Davies

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH (SATURDAY)

Dorking Wanderers 0 Truro City 0

TRURO City remain top of the National League South standings after a stalemate in Surrey against Dorking Wanderers.

In a game that was short on continued penalty box drama, but an intriguing spectacle nevertheless, City created the clearer goalscoring opportunities.

Tyler Harvey, Jaze Kabia and Connor Riley-Lowe all went close in the opening 45 minutes whilst at the other end, Morgan Williams tested visiting incumbent Dan Lavercombe with Matt Briggs shooting wide.

The second stanza saw Jimmy Muitt fashion Wanderers’ only effort of note with Harvey being denied by Dorking gloveman Harrison Foulkes late on.

Boss John Askey made one change to the City side that thrashed Weymouth 4-1 on Tuesday evening as birthday boy Dan Ronney dropped to the bench, replaced by Billy Palfrey.

In perfect conditions at Meadowbank, it was the home side who started well and had two sights of Lavercombe’s goal inside the opening five minutes. Firstly, Williams, on loan from League Two outfit AFC Wimbledon, forced a good stop from Lavercombe.

Muitt, who scored the first ever goal at the TCS back in August when the side’s met, should have done better when well placed but dragged his shot wide.

It took City 15 minutes to register an effort at the other end but from that point onwards, the best moments came from the men in turquoise and lime.

Kabia got the better of veteran defender Tony Craig and whilst seemingly being pulled back in the box, his lobbed effort over the advancing Foulkes drifted narrowly off target.

Harvey then tried a similarly audacious effort when Foulkes once again came away from the sanctuary over his own six-yard box, but like Kabia, City’s 14-goal hitman put the ball wide.

Shy of the half hour mark, Levi Andoh headed a corner over before the remainder of the first half became rather tit for tat, with neither side able to properly assert themselves on proceedings.

And just as it looked like the first 45 would peter out tamely, City could and perhaps should have taken the lead. A cross into the box was met by a brilliant run from skipper Connor Riley-Lowe, who agonisingly poked the wrong side of the post and Dorking had escaped.

After the turnaround, it was once again Dorking with first chance as Lavercombe comfortably palmed away Muitt’s effort from outside the box after 54 minutes.

A measure of City’s defensive excellence, with Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tom Harrison and Sam Sanders once again coming to the fore, was demonstrated by the fact Dorking did not have another attempt of significance in the second half.

At the other end, credit must go to Dorking too, who, for the most part, kept Kabia and Harvey with 35 goal involvements so far this term, out of the action.

But as the half wore on City found another gear and the pendulum shifted when home defender Brennan Camp was hauled off by home boss Marc White after a constant battle with Harvey became too much for the former AFC Bournemouth youngster as he was booked for dissent.

Harvey looked destined to find the bottom corner from an Oxlade-Chamberlain cross, but Foulkes produced a magnificent save.

Harvey had two further half chances with time ticking down and despite a flurry of late long-throws and corners, Dorking survived a late Truro onslaught.

And with Weston-super-Mare going down at Worthing, the Tinners head into the early festive period still looking down on the rest.

TRURO CITY: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Harrison, Sanders, Andoh, En-Neyah, Dean, Palfrey, Riley-Lowe (capt), Harvey, Kaboa. Subs not used: Love-Holmes, Johnson-Fisher, Neal, Rooney, Adelsbury.