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For the squad, management, and away fans from the Cornish outfit, the gruelling 914-mile round trip to face Gateshead proved bittersweet ultimately. Their lengthy coach ride starting in south-west Cornwall travelling the length of England to the north-east region yielded one league point plus complimentary drinks.

The team tied the National League fixture two goals apiece away at Gateshead this past Saturday after holding a two-goal lead by the 54th minute, in what is turning out to be a campaign defined by long travels and unrelenting hauls up and down English A roads and motorways. After goals from Johnson-Fisher and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gateshead rebounded 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.” — John Askey

Already this term Truro have made a trek to face Carlisle resulting in a 3-0 loss that clocked up 878 miles. Due to the team's remote location, even their nearest away game is against Yeovil Town, a roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive along the A30 to Huish Park, a 130-mile trip each direction.

Unifying Effect from Extended Journeys

On Saturday the initial 90 supporters to arrive shared a £920 bar tab, sponsored by Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund representing £1 for every mile travelled. Fortunately, the squad could interrupt their travel with a stop at Derby County’s training ground.

Even their Canadian chair, Eric Perez, who appreciates long-distance travel as he frequently flies seven hours 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 also brings advantages for Cornwall’s first professional football club, he believes. “I’m not going to say it’s a short journey, It's an exceptionally long distance relatively,” Perez told BBC Sport. “But what that does is galvanise our side even further – everybody spends time together, we’re used to travelling together.”

Dedicated Fans Face Long Travels

A committed Truro follower, John Joyce, accepts the reality of extended travel yet stays devoted, despite the odd flight cancellation and wearisome train treks. He estimates Saturday’s trip cost him around £400 in costs and missed income, noting, “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 so it was easy to get behind the players, yet the supporters rarely complain and they appreciate what the players have done.”