Agree largely wth what the Rovers has written about the game above. Tranmere had the best of the chances, but Hartlepool had 3 good efforts of their own and quality keeping/defending earned us the win.
Poor performers; Antwi and Moore. Godwin came in for quite a bit of flak from the away fans, who obviously hadn't been impressed by his loan stint there last year. Distribution woeful, for a central defender he's a diabolical header of the ball, balloning it up and with no sense of direction. If there's a term to his loan that we've got to pick him every game he's fit, then buy him a ferry ticket back now. If it's Ronnie who's picking him voluntarily, then head-examination of our manager is called for.
Moore created one decent chance for Curran, had an effort direct at the keeper and that was it.
Stars; Coyne, Taylor, Goodison, Sonko and Curran. I'd make Sonko my MoM for his all-round committment, he tracked back on a number of occasions when losing the ball, set up the goal for Curran, if only he could hone up his finishing would be a very good player indeed at this level. However the others named all playe a significant part in securing the win.
While my view of Jennings is not so negative as that of the Rovers, if he won't sign up and the club aren't prepared to offer him any extra dosh, then why are we keeping him fit for another club to get him on a free when his birthday comes round in October. I'd rather see Barnett or Edds in there. O'Callaghan isn't a bad player, but it puzzles me on what we've seen so far why Ronnie gave him a 2 year deal when others were only getting one.
The ref, Mr Moss, who harshly sent Goodi off at Crewe last season had a good low key game, but the liner in front of the Johnny King had a shocker. Didn't see enough of the Curran disallowed goal after some excellent work from Taylor to judge if that was a correct call, but there were some other instances of clearly incorrect flagging.
The crowd was a bit of a worry, given that there was a cheap deal for kids who'd been to the Liverpool friendly and the opponents were a decent footballing side on form. Is the credit crunch biting?