STRIKER Andrew 'Rocky' Neal has become the fourth player to leave Taunton Town this week, and the third to rejoin his former club Truro City.

He joins Ryan Brett and Shane White in moving back to the Cornish side, while Matt Wright - club captain for the past three seasons - has moved to Plymouth Parkway.

Neal moved from Truro to Taunton ahead of the 2018/19 season, and went on to score 59 goals in 80 appearances for the Peacocks.

His 2019/20 season was ended prematurely, as he suffered a knee injury, and a crowdfunding effort raised £1,390 to fund his surgery.

Taunton chairman Kevin Sturmey said that the club had made Neal "the best offer a recent Taunton player has received", in an effort to keep him.

Sturmey commented: "Quite simply we made a fantastic offer to Rocky for two years and thought he was happy to stay until the last week when the demographic has changed.

"The offer he has received at Step 3 [Truro, like Taunton, play at Southern League Premier level] is incredible and, I have always said, I never blame any sportsperson for earning as much as they can and naturally players will always look at the 'here and now' as their careers are very short.

"We did all we could and Rob has been working so hard to add new players to the squad, which will always evolve every season, but we were hopeful Rocky would stay as we made him the best offer I think a recent Taunton player has received."

Neal tweeted last night: "Wanna say a big thanks to everyone at Taunton for the last two years.

"Thoroughly enjoyed my football but I feel it’s time to move on to help develop myself as a player, and despite some accusations I’m not leaving for a “bumper deal”, purely footballing reasons."