Tranmere 2-0 Carlisle

[Ian]

Good win today.
Quite comfortable too.

Carlisle not at the races especially in the first half.
We played some good football today, zipped it on the floor a bit, not too much of the long ball stuff.

Good all round performance. Zola was excellent today, shame he had to go off, looked injured so I hope it's nothing serious.

Rocket from Kay who continues to impress with his performances.

The key now is consistancy with a run of games coming up.

SWA!! =D>

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Fair enough, I'm first on here to have a moan when we've played badly but cannot fault it today. Played well, won well. With a bit of luck and a poorer goalkeeper, 5-0 would have been possible by half-time.

They had a couple of half chances and missed a sitter in the 93rd minute but apart from that it was a good, controlled performance with just enough good play to keep me happy.

Hard luck on Shuker going off before he'd even touched the ball, but JMW did ok when he got involved.

McLaren was immense - delivery from free-kicks and set-pieces near perfect - even kicked one off the line in the 47th minute.

So well done - but now the BIG question - can we go on a winning run and put the season back on track........?

(Better crowd, they brought a superb support, but still very quiet, especially as the game died in the second half.=D>)

 

[Gray]

Not only a win, but an entertaining game of football too. They held the ball up well, played it on the floor, looked threatening from set pieces and an absolute belter of a goal.

Great stuff. Zola and Goodison were spot on today as was McLaren from set pieces. We rode our luck towards the end but that only added to the entertainment.

Why can't that team turn up every week? Hope Shukes' injury isn't too bad.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Thought it was a massive improvement from the dross of recent weeks. Players gave it 110%, worked really hard and got their just rewards with an excellent win over a decent Carlisle side. Our first double of the season isn't it???

Pity the forwards couldn't get a goal, Chrissy and Calvin worked effortlessly up front and Chrissy was so unlcky for his shot to come off the post, it would have rounded off the games nicely for him to have scored today I think.

Gotta say, McLaren was immense today too. He seemed to be everywhere, getting stuck in, his distribution was good, as were his set plays for a change, could have had a hat-trick today! Jenno was a bundle of energy alongside him too, the midfield worked well.

Still not sure on that Myrie-Williams, pity that Shukes got injured but the young loanee had his chance to shine and didn't really take it in my opinion. One decent run but then lost the ball in the box was the only thing I can think off. He looks a lot short on confidence to use his alleged "burning pace" and get at a full back, maybe as he's on his "wrong side" down the right, but even still... But on the other hand Andy Taylor looks the biz. Hope we can keep him a bit longer as he is doing well.

All in all, a good day for the lads. Just makes it even more frustrating that they can't seem to string consistent performances like that together or we could be real contenders. Anyway, well done today lads, KEEP IT GOING!

 

[Gray]

Still not sure on that Myrie-Williams, pity that Shukes got injured but the young loanee had his chance to shine and didn't really take it in my opinion. One decent run but then lost the ball in the box was the only thing I can think off. He looks a lot short on confidence to use his alleged "burning pace" and get at a full back, maybe as he's on his "wrong side" down the right, but even still... But on the other hand Andy Taylor looks the biz. Hope we can keep him a bit longer as he is doing well.

To be fair, I don't think he got much of a chance. In the first half he was right in front of us in the JK stand on the right wing and was often in acres of space but never received the service. The one time he did get the ball he got to the by-line and made a tricky run into the box. I thought he looked useful and deserves a few starts.

I think the whole team need to work on their distribution to be honest, although we played well yesterday, we still gave the ball away a lot and missed a lot of useful passes. They just need to take a bit more time and a better look at times, they can do that if they get a shout from a team mate when they've got a bit more time on the ball.

On a funnier note, my dad thought he was called Barry Williams and kept shouting things like 'ASK FOR IT BARRY' and 'COME ON BARRY' :lol:

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Lol :lol: Tis true that he didn't see a lot of the ball, but you've gotta want it and shout for it, and try and get involved. I know this isn't his club and he's just on loan and may not know our lads very well, but he didn't appear that interested to get involved that often, just standing out there and waiting for stuff to come to him rather than the other way round.

Maybe I'm just being picky, but hopefully he can show a bit more in the coming weeks we have him with us, as it seems Shukes maybe out a while if reports are to be believed. Hopefully not, but he may be out quite some time with knee injury.

 

[Ian]

I'm still not convinced about the lad, but because our cover on the left is so thin, it's just good to have someone that can play there.. He hasn't done a great deal in the few games I've seen him play. Showed he can do it with that mazy run he had early on into the box. He may be lacking confidence and his final ball needs work..

Anyone heard about Zola? When he went off he went straight down the tunnel and seemed to be limping slightly.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

Good game that on the balance of it we deserved to win. The first half especially we were extremely dominant.

Our lads didn't show quite as much energy and drive in the second half, and had the opposition not hit the woodwork twice and missed a couple of sitters, we could easily be moaning about a laid-back attitude, taking the foot off the gas, about sitting back costing us all three points. We didn't keep a clean sheet because of excellent defending, or because we kept the pressure on them, we kept a clean sheet because Carlisle could not score. They looked like if they'd kept playing all night they wouldn't have scored. Which brings me nicely to where the hell did the referee get 4 minutes injury time from?

I'm guessing their support (which was impressive, and worthy of a mention) must be cursing their luck against us and have probably added us to their list of bogey teams.

 

[Ian]

We were in control at 2-0 up. However as soon as we scored the second, we took our foot off the gas a little. In the first half, with the chances we had, there could have been three or four goals.

Second half, I don't remember us having that many clear cut chances, apart from the Zola effort from about 30 yards out which bounced arkwardly and the keeper parried it out for a corner. And like NBDH says, Carlisle had the better of the chances.

I think we got complacent in the second half and allowed Carlisle back into the game.

4 mins injury time was a bit crazy. Not entirely sure how the ref worked that out. He must have been enjoying the game.. :-D

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Anyone who wants to view first half highlights of the game, including the wonder goal ...
mms://virginmediavod.pub.video.premiumtv.co.uk/footballtv/wmv/high/20071227_tranmere_carlisle.wmv

 

[Ian]

Great highlights. Kay's goal was even better than I thought, as I didn't know he'd laid it back for himself to volley.. Quality.

 

[Joe_TRFC]

We played like we should do every home game on wednesday. A good performance and good win. Although Carlisle are nowhere near as good away as they are at home. Great goal by Kay!!