Truro City 3, Chippenham Town 5

CITY's impressive start to the season is fast becoming a distant memory.

Tuesday night's disastrous 5-3 home defeat against Chippenham Town  on a foul night at Treyew Road means Sean McCarthy's side have now not won in the league since their August Bank Holiday victory over Tiverton Town.

Since then they have taken just three points from four games with three successive draws and this second home defeat of the season.

It was a shambolic defensive display by City which cost them dearly as Chippenham took full advantage of the chances gifted them by the home side, with striker Ben Highmore helping himself to a hat-trick.

Going forward City were always a threat and after going 2-0 and then 3-1 down they battled their way back to 3-3, only for a horrible mistake by keeper Martin Rice to gift Chippenham a fourth goal from which there was no way back.

From the opening minutes City looked shaky at the back and after only two minutes Chippenham skipper Ross Adams put his side 1-0 up from James Martin's corner as the defence stood and watched.

It got worse after 14 minutes when Highmore cut in from the right to shoot into the far corner to make it 2-0 after more sloppy defending.

City responded well and were given a lifeline nine minutes before the break when Les Afful was tripped by Greg Tindle and Barry McConnell expertly converted the spot-kick.

But right on time the City defence opened like the red sea to allowed Highmore to waltz through and give the visitors a 3-1 interval lead.

After the break City poured forward and quickly pulled a goal back when Danny Clay's speculative effort sailed over the head of the stranded Chris Snoddy in the Chippenham goal for his first goal of the season

It was all Truro, with Martin Watts appearing to be brought down in the box and Andy Taylor unable to connect properly from a Watts centre. But they finally levelled the scores with 20 minutes left when a quickly taken free-kick put Watts totally clear and he calmly chipped the helpless Snoddy.

It looked as if there was only going to be one winner but a real goalkeeping howler from Rice, who completely missed his clearance kick, allowed Lewis Powell to plant the ball into an open goal.

Even Stewart Yetton's first appearance of the season as a late substitute was unable to save the home side, with Highmore's hat-trick goal in stoppage time adding salt in the gaping City wound.

Rugby Town 1, City 1

CITY wasted a golden chance to put pressure on leaders Farnborough, who could only draw at bottom club Merthyr Tydfil, as they allowed struggling Rugby to snatch a point with a late equaliser at a windswept Butlin Road on Saturday.

Les Afful's goal in the first minute of the second half looked enough to have given City all three points, but an 89th minute equaliser by last season's Premier Division top scorer David Kolodynski condemned City to their third successive league draw.

It all left City boss Sean McCarthy a frustrated man.

He said: "We could have won the game by half-time and there would have been no complaints."

The game was never going to be a classic in the conditions and against the wind in the first half City had their chances without being able to take them. But immediately after the restart Joe Broad's pass opened up the home defence, allowing Afful to run through and sidefoot the ball past Stevens. And if Walker's 60th minute shot had crossed the line after hitting the inside of the post had gone it would surely have been game over.

But the struggling home side never gave up and with two minutes left, a long clearance kick by keeper Andrew Stevens gave David Kodlynski the chance to lob the ball over the stranded Martin Rice in the Truro goal.

And it could have been even worse for Truro with Kodlynski hitting the post and Delroy Gordon blasting the rebound wide with the goal at his mercy.

City: McConnell, Ash (capt), Santos Gaia, Baker (Eddy 70); Taylor, Martin Broad, Walker; Watts, Afful. Subs: Brooks, Pugh, Clay, White.

Goal: Afful (46).

Attendance: 196.

City man of the match: Barry McConnell.