TRURO City boss Paul Wotton has been named Vanarama National League Manager of the Month for December.

It is a fitting reward for Truro’s excellent run of form during the last month of 2023 which resulted in four wins from five games played.

City began December with a 3-1 home win over St Albans City with goals from Andrew Neal, Will Dean and Adam Porter. The next game saw Truro travel to FA Cup heroes Maidstone and the side performed admirably against the Kent outfit, who are full-time, to go down 2-1. Tyler Harvey scored City’s goal.

But Truro bounced back from their Maidstone reverse to record three consecutive wins - two of them away from home. The first triumph for City came in Somerset against familiar foes Weston-super-Mare with Dean, Harvey Greenslade and Ryan Law on target in a thrilling 3-2 win.

The final home game of the year saw Havant and Waterlovillie travel to Bolitho Park and a Harvey stunner settled a hard-fought contest with City prevailing 1-0.

Truro then saved the best until last with the side recording one of their finest ever triumphs in league football with a 1-0 victory over Torquay United at Plainmoor on Boxing Day. Ben Adlesbury headed home the winning goal but the margin of victory flattered Gary Johnson’s Gulls. 

“I am proud of the honour,” Wotton told trurocityfc.co.uk. “The award is a reflection of the successful month that we had in December and that success was much-needed. 

“We were in a bad run of form before December but we went away to Chelmsford and won which kick-started the run. We then went to Weston-super-Mare and Torquay and got something which I think is a fantastic achievement. 

“All credit must go to the lads, though, as we are a tight-knit bunch. We don’t have the biggest squad or the biggest budget in this league. But what we have got is big hearts, we are very together and we work tremendously hard.

“Although the award will say ‘Paul Wotton, Manager of the Month', it is ‘Truro City, Team of the Month’ because we are so together.”

Asked to pick out his favourite result and performance from December, Wotton, who signed a new long-term contract in November, unsurprisingly chose the win against Torquay, when City upset the odds to beat the Devonians in front a bumper crowd of nearly 4,000. 

“It has to be Torquay because of the size of the crowd on Boxing Day,” he added. “We gave a really good showing of ourselves at the best ground in the league against a full-time football club. 

“They have been in the Football League for a number of years and we had fantastic support that day. You could feel a real unity around Truro City Football Club that day and the fans loved the performance.

“The boys were fantastic on the day and if I am being brutally honest, nobody gave us a chance of winning the game other than the 16 players in the matchday squad and the staff that were in the changing rooms.”