Odd Behaviour - Can't match.. 2 cells equal, not exact? why?

Hello,
I'm trying to compare two spreadsheets, the data I'm using is "equal" to each other, but is not exact... and I don't know how I could compare the two...

When I try to vlookup and use exact (when it's not exact - data not reliable) I get no results returned.

When I try index/match, I get no results either.

I've attached a spreadsheet which contains A1 and A2, each of these cells is from a different data source.

If I overwrite A1 with the actual text I get a match... but I can't possibly do this to all of my data...

Any suggestions on how I match these?

I tried vlookup(trim(A1).. or left(A1... but any of these still dont give me an exact match..

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks