Exeter City fell to narrow defeat at the Truro City Stadium courtesy of Tyler Harvey's second half penalty.
The Grecians began their 2026/27 pre-season campaign by making the relatively short journey South-West to Cornwall’s capital for a meeting with Enterprise National League South side Truro City.
Playing their football out of the Truro City Stadium, the Tinners find themselves readjusting to life in the sixth tier of English football following a season-long stint of national football. A convincing win over Exmouth Town a week prior, John Askey’s side will have been looking to maintain a positive start to their pre-season campaign.
Matt Taylor fielded the first two acquisitions of the summer, Gwion Edwards & Josh Gordon, alongside each other in the starting eleven for the opening 60 minutes of the encounter.
First Half
Six minutes in and City saw their first promising chance with Andrew Oluwabori bounding down the right wing before crossing into a dangerous position, yet nobody was close enough to meet the ball and test the goalkeeper.
Coming up against his older brother and fellow City academy graduate, Tom Dean was next to threaten the Tinners goal. His shot from the left side of the edge of the area forced Stone into a stop, with the ball seemingly destined to find the top right corner.
The hosts wanted to impose themselves on the game following this, and Ben Starkie let fly an effort that deflected into the gloves of Jack Bycroft. Tylor Love-Holmes soon followed up with another driven attempt, fortunately only finding the grasp of Bycroft again.
Matt Taylor’s men rallied to regain control of the occasion, as new recruit Gwion Edwards impressively drove down the left flank before crossing to Liam Oakes just inside the Truro penalty area, however his effort again forced Stone into a save.
Three minutes of added time were put on the clock when Oakes offered up a through-ball into the box, and while Gordon got on the end of it the linesman’s flag soon went up for a narrow offside. That proved to be the final bit of action with Steven Swan blowing up for half-time shortly afterwards.
Second Half
The hosts made three changes during the break, with former Grecian Harry Kite taking to the field alongside C. Trialist & Tyler Harvey. An early chance for the Tinners soon arose too, as Yassine En-Neyah was brought to ground by the City back line forcing the referee to point to the spot. After a long pause for necessary medical attention, Tyler Harvey stepped forward and slotted the ball into the bottom right to open scoring.
As the clock ticked past the hour mark, Matt Taylor and his staff introduced several new players to the XI in a planned change. Following the additions and after a comfortable opening hour, Louis Cayless was in the prime position on the edge of the box to cross the ball which floated through and bounced narrowly wide of the far post.
A further chance courtesy of Ed James met the same fate, breezing just wide of Stone’s woodwork, before more additions were made to the team to see out the remaining 20 minutes. Harvey Greenslade went looking for a second with ten minutes left after a minor mix-up at the back let him slip through on goal with only Frankie Phillips ahead of him, yet a raised linesman’s flag would stop him in his tracks.
With the game entering stoppage time, George Birch battled hard to win the ball back high up the pitch before crossing to Jayden Wareham inside the area. Wareham’s header from close range was batted away by Stone, finding Birch again whose dribble into the area was halted by a tackle from the Tinners back line.
The remaining minutes on the clocked ticked down and left the referee to draw a close to City's pre-season opener in Cornwall.
Up Next
The Grecians' pre-season campaign continues on Saturday 25th July away to Weston-Super-Mare in a 3pm kick-off. Tickets can be purchased on the day of the game or online by following this link.
Match Details
Truro City Starting XI
Stone (GK), Riley-Lowe ©, Dean, Harrison, Donnellan, En-Neyah, Jephcott, Love-Holmes, Greenslade, Starkie, Tweedy
Truro City Substitutes
Lavercombe, Bell, Kite, A. Trialist, B. Trialist, Law, Stretton, C. Trialist
Truro City Goalscorers
Harvey (51’) (P)
Exeter City First 60 Mins XI
Bycroft (GK), Cayless, James ©, Yfeko, Trialist, Cummins, Dean, Oluwabori, Oakes, Edwards, Gordon
Exeter City Last 30 Mins Starting XI
Phillips (GK), Cayless (Cartwright 91’), Fitzwater, James ©, Woodhouse, Cole, Dean, Oakes (Williams 83’), Elewar, Birch, Wareham
Exeter City Yellow Cards
Cayless (47’)
Match Officials
Steven Swan, Nigel D’Arcy, Mark King, Rowan Clarke
Attendance
1,259