Truro City skipper dreaming of FA Cup success

Connor Riley-Lowe is one of Truro's longest-serving players [Shutterstock] Truro City captain Connor Riley-Lowe hopes his side can improve their FA Cup record as they prepare for a second qualifying round trip to Merthyr Town. When playing at the sixth tier or below, Truro have made it past this stage of the tournament just once since reaching the first round in 2017. City were beaten by AFC Totton on penalties in the fourth qualifying round last season, when they were in the National League. "If you look back at our past four or five years, I don't think we've had easy draws, I don't think they've been in our favour at all," Riley-Lowe told BBC Radio Cornwall before their trip to their Welsh National League North opponents. "I think we've had a lot of away draws and also we've had opposition that you could say are higher in the pyramid. "Even this draw is a real tough draw to get Merthyr away - they're a really strong team. "No disrespect to any other teams in the competition, but there were a lot of teams that were a few leagues below and naturally you want one of them because you think that you've got the best opportunity." Riley-Lowe (right) was part of the Truro City side that made the first round nine years ago [Shutterstock] Riley-Lowe is one of the few remaining Truro players from the side that earned an away trip to then-League One side Charlton Athletic in the first round in November 2017. Noah Keats scored twice as Truro beat Hampton and Richmond 2-0 to become the first Cornish club in 48 years to reach the first round. Current Truro striker Tyler Harvey scored in a 3-1 loss at The Valley, a day which will live long in Riley-Lowe's memory. "Other than the two promotion days, I think that was my next best day in football," he said. "I think we've got a bit more stature in the game now, but back then Truro was a real small club and not many people had heard of Truro. "For us to go up to Charlton back then was really big for us and it was a great day. "We took a lot of fans and we actually did ourselves justice on the day - we were a little bit unlucky, I know Charlton made quite a few changes, but on another day we could quite easily have nicked something from that game. "It was a great day and I would absolutely love to replicate it, but again you need the draw to go well for you, don't you? "We've done it before where we've had a couple of tough games and we've made it so there's no reason why we can't produce that this year, so we'll see - but it was a great day and the FA Cup makes heroes, doesn't it?
Related internet links
Truro City FC