By Gareth Davies at Twerton Park

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH

Bath City 1 Truro City 0

TRURO City’s unbeaten run of five games is over after the Tinners were edged out by Bath City at Twerton Park.

With the home side creating very little in terms of clear-cut chances, they took the lead four minutes from the break when Sol Wanjau-Smith netted.

And after the turnaround, Truro created three excellent chances which could, and perhaps should, have resulted in an equaliser, if not all three points.

But the visitors found Bath custodian Harvey Wiles-Richards in fine form and perhaps an indication of his contribution came in the shape of the home sponsors’ player of the match award.

Truro boss John Askey made one change from the side which defeated Chelmsford City in dramatic fashion last time out, with leading scorer Tyler Harvey replacing Andrew Neal.

Recent signing Scott Burgess and Pharell Johnson both travelled with the side and took part in the warm-up, but neither featured as Askey chose to stick with the same 16 that had picked up 13 points from their previous five matches.

On a perfect evening for football in North Somerset, Bath had two half chances inside the first five minutes as Wanjau-Smith fired wide after a cross into the box was not cleared and Billy Phillips’ free-kick forced Dan Lavercombe into a regulation save.

After weathering something of a mini early storm, Truro gained a foothold in proceedings but were unable to fashion any goalscoring opportunities until either side of the half hour mark.

Firstly, Harvey just couldn’t direct the ball on target after a neat passage of play out on the left before the same player saw a shot blocked on the line by Jack Batten.

Then, just as the interval approached, Bath took the lead when a long clearance was seized upon by Wanjau-Smith and he finished well past Lavercombe.

Into the second stanza and Bath, with their tails up, were frustrated by Lavercombe, who pulled off a fine stop to deny Phillips, after he had ghosted in at the near post.

But that was as good as it got for Bath as Truro dominated the rest of the half and three minutes shy of the hour, Wiles-Richards came to the fore.

Harvey broke clear in the box and fired across the six-yard box, the ball was diverted towards goal with the home incumbent pouching it right on the line.

Harvey then combined well with Neal, who was thrust into the fray for the final 35 minutes, replacing Jaze Kabia. The City number nine was in on goal and after striking powerfully, Wiles-Richards used his legs brilliantly to keep the ball out.

Neal then had a sight at goal 13 minutes from time as Truro rolled the dice with a number of attacking substitutions in search of a leveller.

And five minutes from time, it seemed certain to arrive when Dom Johnson-Fisher crossed for fellow replacement Connor Riley-Lowe. However, Riley-Lowe, playing against one of his former clubs, could only strike the ball straight at Wiles-Richards inside the six-yard box.

Good save or lucky break? Only Wiles-Richards will know the answer to that one, but when he sits down to drink the sponsors’ champagne, he will do so in the knowledge that he single-handedly got his side out of jail, as they inflicted a first defeat on Truro since the opening day.

TRURO CITY: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Harrison, Sanders (Riley-Lowe,55), Love-Holmes, Sanogo (Palfrey, 67), Dean, En-Neyah (Johnson-Fisher, 79), Law (Kuleya, 76), Harvey, Kabia (Neal, 55)

BATH CITY Wiles-Richards, Raynes, Greenslade, Batten, Parselle, Wanjau-Smith, Humphrey-Ewers, Clark, Frear, Tilson, Phillips (Fisher, 76). Subs not used: Casa-Grande, Sweeten, Russe, Davies.

Referee:Adam Merchant.

Attendance: 1055.