Gateshead v Truro: Fans travel 914 miles for farthest away match in English football history

Before the match, there are a lot of sore heads, most of which choose to be treated with a free pint offered by the Fog on the Tyne pub to the first 100 Truro fans who attend.

Gateshead has the lowest average attendance in the National League, but plays in a 11,800 capacity stadium designed to host athletics events and concerts.

The home stands were almost completely empty, the temperature dropped, and teeth chattered on the outside terrace as Truro kicked off the game.

The off-field attendance is 185 people, higher than usual, thanks in part to those enticed by the novelty of the trip and the presence of a few neutral ground-hoppers wanting to be part of history.

Truro is uncharacteristically electric when the game starts. They deservedly took the lead five minutes later through Dominic Johnson-Fisher. After two more goals were narrowly disallowed, they doubled their lead just before half-time through defender Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose father Mark and brother Alex played for England during their careers.

At the end of the first half, the far end is pandemonium.

But after the break, Gateshead improved and scored two goals to equalize, and the second goal came in the 70th minute from striker Frank Noble, who played in the English Premier League with West Ham at the beginning of his football career.

Truro had a golden chance to win the goal in stoppage time, one-on-one with the keeper, but Luke Jeffcoat put the ball wide.

“I would have had a point before kick-off, I thought,” says Sharon Hinds, a decades-long fan who also played for the club’s women’s team.

“I’d be lost without attending games. We’ve been small for a long time but we feel like giants now. We’re a proper family that takes care of everyone when things are tough. It’s really nice.”