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Regarding the players, staff, and travelling supporters of Truro City, the gruelling return journey of 914 miles to Gateshead was a mixed blessing in the end. The 12-hour bus journey starting in south-west Cornwall travelling the length of England to the north-east yielded one league point and a free pint or two.

The team tied the National League fixture at 2-2 at Gateshead International Stadium this past Saturday having led 2-0 by the 54th minute, in what is turning out to be a campaign defined by long travels and unrelenting hauls across England's highways. Following strikes by Dominic Johnson-Fisher and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, the hosts fought back 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.” — the team's manager

Earlier in the season 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, around a two-and-a-half-hour schlep along the A30 to Huish Park, a 130-mile trip each direction.

Unifying Impact of Long Travels

On Saturday the first 90 Truro fans were treated to a £920 drinks tab, courtesy of the EFL sponsor, Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund equating to £1 per mile covered. Fortunately, the squad could interrupt their travel with a stop at Derby County’s training ground.

Their chairman from Canada, Eric Perez, who appreciates long-distance travel as he frequently flies seven hours long-haul from Toronto to London, recognizes the difficulties facing the club he took over in 2023 aiming to emulate Wrexham's success.

All this time on the road has benefits too for the region's first pro football team, he believes. “It's certainly not a brief trip, It’s a ridiculously long journey in context,” Perez told BBC Sport. “But what that does is galvanise our side even further – everybody spends time together, we are accustomed to journeying as a group.”

Loyal Fans Endure Lengthy Trips

One of Truro’s stalwart supporters, John Joyce, accepts the reality of extended travel but remains committed, despite the odd flight cancellation and exhausting rail journeys. 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.”

As Askey said, following the Carlisle expedition: “The thing that makes Truro special as a club lies in the fans' unwavering support 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 value the players' efforts.”