OUR JACK IN THE BOX PRANKSTER YETTSY GAVE US ALL A SURPRISE!

But it was the beginning of a journey that took him, via Falmouth Town, to become a key cog in Truro City’s rapid rise up the Pyramid.

- MATT BADCOCK

Now manager of Mousehole, who he has taken from Step 6 to Step 4, the respected former defender looks back at his early days, the success Truro had —and the time a team-mate made a surprise entrance!

FIRST CLUB

A local club to me, Budleigh Salterton. It was the Devon League at the time and I must have been 16. It was a massive eye-opener going into men’s football but I absolutely loved it.

I think they were grateful for a little whipper-snapper who would run around and get stuck in.

I was a bit disillusioned having come out of a scholarship at Exeter and I'd decided to go down the academic route.

I really wanted to go to Bournemouth University to do journalism. I'd got the grades and was thinking I was all set to go but they must have been oversubscribed so I didn’t get in!

My second choice ended up being Falmouth which, at the time, was a really tiny university.

I didn’t carry on playing football straightaway but then my dad got in my ear. I can’t quite remember how but I went to train with Falmouth Town. I played in a reserve game on the Saturday and for some reason the first team had a cup game on the Sunday. The first team manager Steve Massey saw me on the Saturday and asked if I could play the next day.

I'd probably had a student night out and, in my mind, I was terrible. He obviously saw something and I went on to have three seasons there.

I loved it. A great club who took me under their wing.

Steve was poached by Kevin Heaney, this guy who had rode into town from nowhere making noises about taking Truro City on this journey. Steve called me up. I was a bit sceptical and was sure I was going to London to use my degree - I'd got a first and had spoken to Sky Sports.