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For the players, staff, and travelling supporters of Truro City, the arduous 914-mile round trip to face Gateshead was a mixed blessing in the end. The 12-hour bus journey from Cornwall in the south-west all the way up England’s spine to the north-east bore a single point plus complimentary drinks.

Truro drew the National League fixture two goals apiece away at Gateshead on Saturday having led 2-0 in the 54th minute, during what is becoming a campaign defined by long travels and unrelenting hauls up and down English A roads and motorways. Following strikes by Johnson-Fisher and Oxlade-Chamberlain, the hosts fought back through Kain Adom and, in the 70th minute, Frank Nouble.

“Clubs that come down to us, most of them are flying down and staying over on the Friday, so for us to have to do it on the coach is not ideal, but because we have so many long journeys, that’s the way we have to do it.” — the team's manager

Already this term Truro have made a trek to face Carlisle resulting in a 3-0 loss covering 878 miles. Due to the team's remote location, even their nearest away game is at Yeovil Town, around a two-and-a-half-hour schlep along the A30 to Huish Park, 130 miles each way.

Unifying Effect from Extended Journeys

On Saturday the first 90 Truro fans to arrive shared a £920 bar tab, sponsored by Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund equating to £1 per mile covered. Fortunately, the squad could interrupt their travel with a stop at Derby County’s training ground.

Their chairman from Canada, Eric Perez, who appreciates long-distance travel since he regularly flies seven hours long-haul from Toronto to London, recognizes the difficulties confronting the club he acquired in 2023 aiming to emulate Wrexham's success.

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 stated. “But what that does is galvanise our side even further – the team bonds during travel, we’re used to travelling together.”

Loyal Fans Face Long 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 calculated the recent trip at roughly £400 in costs and missed income, noting, “During my naval career with Nato, the drive from Brussels to Cornwall was shorter than from Cornwall to Gateshead.”

As Askey said, following the Carlisle expedition: “The thing that makes Truro special as a club lies in the fans' unwavering support regardless of circumstances. I know last season we were very successful made it easy to back the squad, but from what I know the fans never even moan and they value the players' efforts.”