TRURO City moved to within two points of top spot in National League South after fighting back to win a seven-goal thriller at Hampton & Richmond on Saturday.

The Tinners headed to London as firm favourites against their struggling hosts, but a poor first half got even worse when they fell 3-1 behind early in the second half.

However, Ben Starkie’s brilliant strike pulled one back before key striker Tyler Harvey netted twice as they bounced back from last Saturday’s FA Cup disappointment at Sutton United.

Harvey, who had recovered from a nasty cut at Braintree Town a fortnight earlier, was one of two changes to the starting 11 as he and winger Tom Tweedy replaced Jack Stretton and Harvey Greenslade.

Hampton & Richmond hadn’t won since early September 8 and recently sacked boss Alan Dowson, and nearly fell behind 11 minutes in as Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain thrashed a 25-yard effort off the crossbar shortly after Harvey had hit the side-netting.

But the Londoners were in front 25 minutes in as John Ryan’s cross from the left was put into the bottom corner by striker Wilson Waweru.

Ten minutes later it was all square as Tom Dean’s header found its way in after some poor home defending, but they were back ahead before the break as Barnet loanee Bright Siaw beat Aiden Stone from distance.

Siaw and Waweru were causing problems and it was 3-1 just seven minutes the restart as the latter slotted in after Stone had parried Siaw’s shot.

Just before the hour, Askey had seen enough and introduced Zac Bell, Starkie and Greenslade, and it proved inspired as Truro roared forward.

Good play on the left from Starkie and Tweedy ended with Harvey firing in from inside the area, before a moment of magic four minutes later made it level.

Starkie picked up the ball some 25 yards out before finding the top corner, and the comeback was complete 14 minutes from time when Luke Jephcott’s exquisite, teasing free-kick was slotted in by Harvey from close-range.

Truro saw the rest of the game out with few alarms as they showed why they could be promotion contenders come the season’s end.

Askey admitted they were far from their best, but hailed his side’s resilience.

He said: “I thought first half we were poor, very slow to get going, and it wasn’t really until the subs came on that we showed any real energy.

“But full credit to the players, to come back when you’re two goals adrift takes some doing, to win a game, and they showed a lot of determination and guts in the end.”

He continued: “You were always hoping that if you’d get one that it’d put them under pressure, but I think they thought by changing manager and one or two of the players they’d get a bit of a bounce from it, and that was the case for the majority of the game.

“But I always felt that if we started to play a little bit we’d have a chance, and when we got it back to 3-2, I wouldn’t say I felt like we’d win it, but I thought we could go and get a draw. Then once we went 4-3 up they didn’t really cause us too many problems.”

Truro welcome Slough Town tomorrow night (7.45pm) before another home clash on Saturday when Ebbsfleet United are the visitors (3pm).

TRURO CITY: Stone; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Donnellan (Bell, 57), Harrison, Tweedy, W Dean, T Dean (Starkie, 57), Jephcott, Law, Stretton (Greensalde, 57), Harvey. Subs not used: Lavercombe (gk), Blake, Nunn, Kinsey.