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Regarding the players, staff, and travelling supporters of Truro City, the gruelling 914-mile round trip to face Gateshead was a mixed blessing ultimately. The 12-hour bus journey from Cornwall in the south-west travelling the length of England to the north-east region bore a single point and a free pint or two.

Truro drew their National League match at 2-2 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. Following strikes by Johnson-Fisher and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gateshead rebounded via Adom and a 70th-minute equalizer from 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

Earlier in the season the club undertook a journey to Carlisle for a 3-0 defeat that clocked up 878 miles. Such is the club’s relative isolation, their shortest away match is against Yeovil Town, around a two-and-a-half-hour schlep along the A30 to Huish Park, 130 miles each way.

Unifying Effect of Long Travels

During the matchday the initial 90 supporters were treated to a £920 drinks tab, courtesy of the EFL sponsor, Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund representing £1 for every mile travelled. At least the players were able to break up their journey with a pause at Derby's training facility.

Even their Canadian chair, Eric Perez, accustomed to long-haul trips since he regularly flies seven hours from Toronto to London, understands the challenge facing the club he took over in 2023 with ambitions of “doing a Wrexham”.

All this time on the road also brings advantages for Cornwall’s first professional football club, he believes. “It's certainly not a brief trip, It's an exceptionally long distance relatively,” Perez told BBC Sport. “But what that does is galvanise our side even further – the team bonds during travel, we’re used to travelling together.”

Dedicated Supporters Face Lengthy Travels

A committed Truro follower, John Joyce, accepts the reality of extended travel but remains committed, despite the odd flight cancellation and wearisome train treks. He estimates Saturday’s trip cost him around £400 in costs and missed income, remarking, “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.”

Reflecting on the situation, after their Carlisle odyssey: “The thing that makes Truro special as a club is that the supporters get behind the team no matter what. I know last season we were very successful made it easy to back the squad, yet the supporters rarely complain and they appreciate what the players have done.”