• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Rovers v Eastleigh

Cowshed Kid

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Bobby Hutchinson
A goal to remember and would be played over again had it been that Mo bloke or the likes!
Haven't seen it on screen yet but from behind that post you knew where it was heading as soon as it left Cookie's boot.
Crucial cos it killed the game and importantly improved goal difference.
As said earlier, it is so close and our GD is worth that extra point. Got a feeling it could be crucial.
I thought Ollie and CJ we're a bit out of sorts and Hughes was probably the best performer in the middle.
Tollitt very quiet, though he didn't see a great deal of the ball.
Great composure from Mangs to set up Cookie - he could easily have been dazzled by the headlights and had a go himself.
Probably the first Eastleigh team we've seen up here trying to play football. They were very assured with the ball and I suspect that if you gave them our front two then the result may have been different.
Still, a win's a win. And in front of the cameras. Respectable crowd of 4.6k given the early kick off and TV.
A toughie coming up at the white cliffs. Hopefully they'll be up to the task.
 
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Cowshed Kid

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Bobby Hutchinson
Aldo's Mustache...... You'll like the headlines from their local rag - "Cook dishes out Spitfire's punishment"
 

Boz

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Probably the first Eastleigh team we've seen up here trying to play football. They were very assured with the ball and I suspect that if you gave them our front two then the result may have been different.
Agree with this, they were better than I'd expected, but lacked firepower up front. Though equally if we'd had their no 26 a busy player with some great distribution from midfield, we might have done even better. MM seemed to set the side up expecting Eastleigh to play in a certain way and we didn't adapt and he didn't seem to change tack to deal with how things actually were.

Defence. I didn't think any of the back four had a particularly good game, although Ridehalgh's mistake for their goal aside, there weren't any major errors. Sutton and Buxton had decent games, but were let down by their distribution at times. McNulty didn't seem as assured as usual.

Midfield. MMs post match interview seemed to suggest the changes imposed had been voluntary rather than enforced, no mention of Jay Harris being unavailable. Think perhaps we should have looked at bringing on Traore for Jennings, who was getting crowded out, though agree that Harris' tackilng/ankle-biting was missed. Norburn produced a couple of peaches of deliveries for Norwood's effort just before the break and the one-on-one shortly after half-time, but he tends to drift out of games at times. Hughes did what was expected of him. Tollitt wasn't given much space or opportunity in this game, but his fitness must be improving.

Forwards. Seemed to get caught offside an awful lot today, couldn't judge the liner with the yellow flag in the first half, but sat behind the guy with the red flag and there was only one doubtful call. Norwood had a quiet game by his standards, despite the two chances. Cook kept battling away, worked very hard after Mangan's excellent through ball to make the second goal happen. The third was of a quality out of character with the game as a whole.

MoM: Cookie certainly has a shout, but for me Scott Davies' excellent double save early on turned the match and another good one in the second half, when the game was still at 1-0 earn it for him.
 
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aldo
yes love the cookie monster . what a goal . and yes i missed it . with having to work . the big man has scored 15 in 18 games . and if you are looking mr mp . he his out of contract in the summer . we can not afford to lose him or let him go for nothing . it is a bite strange that clark has been frozen out . only 5 points in it and 7 games to go . its gonna go to the last game we need to win those 7 eney way they can even if its crap or good . we just need to win end of .
 
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aldo
the midfield has been an issue all season . just cant seem to score goals . sutton,s goal was his 5 same as Norburn . we havent had a good centre mid for years . we just seem to nice an like to get are tummies tickled . some times we need to be a little nasty an give a little back . looking at j harris when he had his scoring month last season . could he play a little higher up the pitch . who knows but it needs sorting . still love cookies second what a goal that is he is class
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
One thing is for sure, Andy Cook will be playing in the Football League next season. I just hope it's with Rovers.
 

Sparky

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Agree BBTC. The slim chance we have of keeping cookie is by going up and offering him a decent deal. We won’t do it now as we don’t know what league we are in plus doubt he would sign anyway
 
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My worry is that if we stay down it will be impossible to replace him. The forwards we brought in last summer were dreadful and even if the recruitment improves ,there are only a handful of players at this level on a par with Cook (Rowe, for example) and they probably won't be available to us.

A lot of players are out of contract in the summer and it will be a lot easier to rebuild as a Football League club. A big few weeks ahead for TRFC.
 

Sparky

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Yes if we don’t go up the rebuilding will be massive. Their are players out there scoring goals like Gilchrist at Southport but we’ve signed the likes of Stephenson recently from the league below which didn’t work out.

If say we don’t go up and the likes of cookie, Nors and CJ left, would Palios trust MIckey with the budget next season given such poor signings this season?

But then again who else is out there who could take us up? Askey possibly of Macc don’t go up but I think they will
 

drwhoman

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As we all know, the key issue has been the failure to improve the team last summer while we lost the likes of Maynard and Stockton. Not great players but better than most of those we recruited. If MM was to continue, we would have to do better in this regard. I doubt if signing players from lower leagues is the answer these days. Anyone with quality is quickly identified at schoolboy level and so we are really looking at guys experienced in the NL, or, if above, identified as players who are willing to mix it if necessary. Past serious injuries may have an influence on this. I vaguely recall, and could be wrong, that McEverley had had injury issues, which may have influenced his desire/ability to get stuck in?
 
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Regardless of whether or not we win promotion, and unless the closing weeks of the season are a complete car crash (which I don't think they will be) Mellon should be here next season in my view. The best manager we have had for some time.

I would compare Mellon's record here to Paul Hurst's at Grimsby. They lost twice in the play-offs, but stayed loyal to a good manager who eventually took them up.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
I am veering towards RLC's view. I agree that most of his signings have been a total waste of money and that's why we haven't been able to afford the necessary quality. There is also the failure to kick on after Wembley. Both issues may be connected. You can also occasionally criticise his tactics, team selections and substitutions, but mostly he gets it right and we never know the full reasons when he doesn't. I suppose the deciding factor for me is that our record in changing managers over the years - and I'm talking from over fifty years experience - has not been good. We have usually ended up worse off. So I'm prepared to back Micky if Mark is.
 

joe

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Mickey constantly states that he picks the team that will do the job for Tranmere Rovers, in his view. There should not be favourites (Ridehalgh excepted) but by and large he is rotating the squad to suit the teams we play against, again in his view. We all have views as to which team he should pick but by and large it works. Mickey is a good Manager who should stay here until he completes the job he is employed for. Consistency is what is needed.
 

drwhoman

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Cannot disagree with this. At the same time, I hope that there will be a clear sighted assessment as to how recruitment can be improved. I doubt if it is all about wages payable.
 

Ian

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Agree with the posts above. Getting rid of MM puts us back to square one. He’s doing a good job overall and what we need is consistency and a bit of loyalty. Drwhoman has a point as recruitment has been poor although I’m not sure it’s that easy down in the basement leagues.
 
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aldo
you look at what the likes of boreham wood have got in over the summer ., some of there players are very good players . . think we realy need to sort the middle of the park out to light weight . and if we can keep cookie an tie noors up to a good back up stricker would be good . cant afford to make poor signings this summer .
 
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think the defence is ok but could do with some younger blood in there . scottie is fab but if pillings leaves in the summer then will need cover . think there is gonna be big player changes if we stay down this year . and even if we did go up .
 
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with dover playing tonight . lets hope for a few injuries and sendings off . and also hope there nackerd friday to . and lets hope macc slip up again .
 

Ian

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I can’t see Macclesfield losing points tonight but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If they do slip up, they might be feeling the pressure.
 

drwhoman

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Ian, I agree with your post that recruitment cannot be easy at NL level but in recent times it has all seemed a bit frenetic. For example, last summer we were suddenly overstocked in strikers and almost five minutes later three are going out on loan and a young loanee was being brought in. Easy for me to say I know.
 
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