TRURO City manager John Askey said it felt like “one step forward, two back” after his side slipped to a 2-0 defeat at home to Eastleigh in the National League on Tuesday night.

Just days after demolishing Morecambe 5-0 in their best performances of the season, City were brought back down to earth as first-half goals from Temi Eweka and Aaron Blair settled the contest at The TCS.

For Askey, it was an evening of deep frustration. “First half, I was hoping I was going to come in and say ‘well played’ and be two or three up,” he said. “But we can’t afford to miss the chances that we made and that’s cost us. If you’re not scoring, then you’ve got to defend better than what we did for the two goals.”

Truro carved out several clear opportunities early on but were guilty of poor finishing.

“You’d expect under-10s players to score one or two of the chances we’ve missed today,” Askey admitted. “For the first 40 minutes we played really well, but it’s a 90-minute game.”

Once Eastleigh doubled their advantage, Truro never looked like forcing a way back. “We weren’t able to break them down,” Askey reflected. “We didn’t look like scoring once they went 2-0 up. To start as we did and not finish chances was criminal.”

Attention now turns to Saturday’s clash with Woking, with Askey demanding a stronger response.

“There were some positives, but we’ve got to take our chances. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “It felt like we were getting somewhere, then it’s one step forward, two back. We’ve got to roll our sleeves up and fight a bit harder.”