🔗 Share this article

For the squad, management, and away fans of Truro City, the gruelling 914-mile round trip to Gateshead proved bittersweet ultimately. The 12-hour bus journey from Cornwall in the south-west all the way up England’s spine to the north-east region bore a single point and a free pint or two.

Truro drew the National League fixture at 2-2 at Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday after holding a two-goal lead by the 54th minute, in what is turning out to be a season of epic train journeys and tireless road trips across England's highways. After goals from Johnson-Fisher and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gateshead rebounded through Kain Adom and, in the 70th minute, Frank Nouble.

“Opposition teams visiting us often fly in and stay overnight, making our coach travel less than ideal, yet with our extensive schedule, it’s our only option.” — John Askey

Earlier in the season Truro have made a trek to Carlisle for a 3-0 defeat covering 878 miles. Due to the team's remote location, their shortest away match is at Yeovil Town, a roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive along the A30 to Huish Park, a 130-mile trip each direction.

Unifying Effect of Long Travels

On Saturday the initial 90 supporters were treated to a £920 drinks tab, courtesy of the EFL sponsor, Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund equating to £1 per mile covered. At least the players were able to break up their journey with a stop at Derby County’s training ground.

Their chairman from Canada, Eric Perez, accustomed to long-haul trips as he frequently flies seven hours long-haul from Toronto to London, recognizes the difficulties facing the club he took over in 2023 with ambitions of “doing a Wrexham”.

All this time on the road has benefits too for Cornwall’s first professional football club, he believes. “It's certainly not a brief trip, It's an exceptionally long distance relatively,” Perez told BBC Sport. However, it serves to strengthen our squad further – the team bonds during travel, we are accustomed to journeying as a group.”

Loyal Supporters Endure Lengthy Travels

One of Truro’s stalwart supporters, John Joyce, accepts the reality of extended travel but remains committed, despite the odd flight cancellation and exhausting rail journeys. He estimates Saturday’s trip cost him around £400 in expenses and lost earnings, remarking, “I worked for Nato in the last six years of my career in the navy, and it was a shorter drive from Brussels back to Cornwall than it is from Cornwall to Gateshead.”

As Askey said, following the Carlisle expedition: “Truro's uniqueness as a club is that the supporters get behind the team no matter what. Last term's promotion success made it easy to back the squad, but from what I know the fans never even moan and they value the players' efforts.”