TRURO City went down to a single goal reverse at home to last year’s beaten play-off finalists Southend United.

The Shrimpers, more familiar to the Football League than that of the National, scored the only goal of the game three minutes after the hour as Sam Austin finally broke through the Tinners rearguard.

In front of another superb crowd of 3,067, John Askey’s charges took the game to their opponents and were unlucky not to score through Yassine En-Neyah, Dom Johnson-Fisher and Jake Taylor.

Askey made four changes to the City team that started Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Tamworth with Ryan Law, Yassine En-Neyah, Rekeil Pyke and Dom Johnson-Fisher coming in for Ben Starkie, Jake Taylor, Luke Jephcott and club captain Connor Riley-Lowe, who reverted to a place on the bench alongside the returning Tyler Harvey.

An action-packed opening stanza set the tone for a competitive encounter, with the Shrimpers carving out the first clear cut opportunity – a header from Gus Scott-Morriss that was cleared off the line admirably by the ever-alert Zac Bell.

Almost immediately, the Tinners responded as Law’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected wide.

Buoyed by their earlier foray forward, back came City for another shot at a Southend side yet to concede this term. Lirak Hasani had the crowd on his feet with a ninth-minute lobbed ball into the path of En-Neyah, who shot across Colin Andeng-Ndi’s goal and inches wide of the far post.

The next chance during the first 45 then fell to those in red and black. Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain’s trademark long throw was headed back whence it came, allowing City’s number 12 the chance to whip a cross into the back post that ended up in the grateful grasp of Andeng-Ndi.

The pace and creativity inhabited by Johnson-Fisher, as so often happens, proved difficult to manage for a Shrimpers backline that, ultimately, just about dealt with him. He saw the ball stolen away as he shaped to shoot on the edge of the box, before arrowing a second strike narrowly over the bar.

Further frustration ensued after half-time as first Johnson-Fisher and then his manager, Askey, had their names taken by referee Sam Mulhall.

The tone changed shortly after the hour mark with two golden opportunities for Southend that each ended with the ball in the back of the net, Austin’s drive from inside the box counting after Tom Hopper’s header had been ruled out for offside.

Askey responded straight away, throwing Harvey and Taylor into the fray, as well as Tylor Love-Holmes, but the Shrimpers’ tails were up and they continued to press forward, forcing Lavercombe into a stop at full stretch with a well struck free-kick from Scott-Morriss.

Askey introduced further fresh faces, in the shape of Starkie and Jephcott, and his changes almost had the desired effect, the stadium holding their breath as Taylor’s corner bounced off the crossbar.

Oxlade-Chamberlain soon headed just off target, but that was the closest City would come to taking something from another game of fine margins at Step One.

TRURO CITY: Lavercombe, Bell (Love-Holmes, 68), Dean, Sanders, En-Neyah (Jephcott, 82), Rooney, Johnson-Fisher (Starkie, 73), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hasani (Taylor, 68), Pyke (Harvey, 68), Law; Subs not used: Stone (gk), Riley-Lowe.