Welling United fell to defeat at Truro City at Bolitho Park on Saturday as opening day ended in frustration for the Wings.
The visitors were made to pay for a sloppy first half which saw the home side score five times, while Cameron Green’s debut strike and Antony Papadopoulos’ penalty proved to be little more than a consolation.
There were 10 league debuts on show for the Wings as they kicked the season off with Papadopoulos the only starter left standing from last term.
After the long journey south, the Wings made a slow start to proceedings and found themselves behind with just six minutes gone.
The hosts sprung the offisde trap to send Andrew Neal through one-on-one and the nippy forward coolly scooped a shot over the advancing Ben Winterbottom to give his side the advantage.
On 19 minutes, Truro struck again with Ed Palmer getting on the end of a set-piece delivery from the left to cushion a volley home and give the Wings a mountain to climb.
Indeed, that mountain got all the more steeper two minutes later when two became three – Adam Porter squeezing a low effort through a crowded box and into the bottom left-hand corner.
The three-goal deficit prompted Bloor to make a shift with Jephte Tanga replacing Alex MacAllister as the Wings moved from three at the back to 4-4-2.
And it appeared to settle things down before the Wings pulled one back just before the half-hour mark in stylish fashion.
Cameron Green and Will Wood combined brilliantly on the left, exchanging near one-two before Green nestled a shot into the bottom right-hand corner to give his side some hope.
That hope would not last long, however, as the White Tigers continued to run rampant at the other end, adding two more to their tally before the half-time whistle.
First, Porter secured his brace by converting from a pull-back from the left, before Tyler Harvey made it five for the hosts in first-half injury-time with a well-placed effort from the edge of the box.
In truth, Welling only had pride to play for in the second half as they looked to limit the damage.
Dominic Odusanya came on at the break to shore things up for the Wings and it proved to be a far more settled second 45, although frustrations were compounded when captain Mitchell Dickenson was forced off with an injury just after the hour.
Kareem Isiaka came close to pulling another one back for the visitors when he volleyed over from Green’s cross, while Olomowewe headed over late on before Welling did eventually reduce the arrears to three in the 87th minute from the penalty spot.
TJ Bramble was brought down in the box, allowing Papadopoulos to step up and take his spot-kick brilliantly, crashing the ball into the roof of the net.
Despite the better second-half showing, Bloor’s Wings will head back towards Kent licking their wounds with plenty of work to be done before the visit of Hemel Hempstead Town to Park View Road next weekend.
Truro City: Hamon, Malhado, Riley-Lowe, Palmer, Sanders, Porter, Dean, Harvey (White 73), Rooney (Brett 70), Neal, Law.
Subs (not used): Jones.
Goals: Neal 6, Palmer 19, Porter 21, 40, Harvey 45+2
Welling United: Winterbottom, Lema (Odusanya 46), Burchell, Dickenson (Olomowewe 61), Wood, Bramble, Vaughan, Green, Papadopoulos, Isiaka, MacAllister (Tanga 23).
Subs (not used): Andrews, Kamara.
Booked: Bramble 34 (foul on Harvey), Vaughan 45+4 (foul), Wood 81 (foul on Malhado)
Goal: Green 28, Papadopoulos (pen) 87
