Rovers recap!

In the past two weeks or so Tranmere VitalFootball has had one or two problems. For the first week it was completely down, along with the rest of the Vital Network. For the second week the site was back but there were numerous publishing issues that meant we couldn’t publish any stories until Saturday the 21st. Apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Tranmere have competed in three matches during this period, but unfortunately they could only muster one win in those three games, away to Bury in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

On Friday the 13th of October Rovers entertained Port Vale. The Whites lost their unbeaten home record as they fell to two rather soft first half goals, dispatched by Jeff Smith and Leon Constantine. Rovers rallied in the second half and pulled one back via Chris Greenacre, but they couldn’t turn the game around and the game finished 1-2.

On Tuesday the 17th Rovers claimed a win at Bury in the JPT. The Whites took the lead in the first half, thanks to Chris Shuker’s first goal for the club, a free kick from just outside the area. Steve Jennings confirmed the win for Tranmere with a tap in near the end of the game. The tie saw a successful return in between the sticks for Rovers favourite John Achterberg, who made his first appearance of the season and kept a clean sheet to boot.

Rovers now face Darlington at home in the 2nd round of the competition, on Tuesday the 31st of October, 7:45pm. This could be a very intriguing fixture – Darlo’ have yet to announce a permanent new Boss after David Hodgson left the club recently and former Rovers manager Brian Little has been heavily linked with the job. The club is only opening the Main Stand for home fans for this game, along with the Johnny King Stand for visiting supporters, which could create quite a different atmosphere inside Prenton Park.

Back to the league though, and on Saturday the 21st of October Rovers lost yet again, this time away to Carlisle at Brunton Park. The first half was scrappy, but the home side registered on the scoresheet via Kevin Gall, who danced around a few Rovers defenders before drilling home from just outside the box. Yet again Rovers huffed and puffed in the second half, but couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.

All this now leaves Rovers in ninth position in the league, on 22 points.

Kevin Bond’s Bournemouth are the next opposition for the Whites, as they visit the Wirral on Saturday in a game that we really need to win in order to get our season back on track.