Tranmere 2-1 Southampton

[Tom]

Wow, just got back from the game... so many events such a good atmosphere... brilliant result and can finally see us surviving. The pressure on that penalty was immense... great day!

 

[SonkORLY?]

a penalty wouldnt go amiss neither, we havent had one since february

In many respects we were lucky to get in at half time at 1-1. Southampton passed the ball well and troubled us playing with natural width, attacking swiftly with lots of supporting runners from midfield. O'neill was found out a few times vs their tricky winger and Broomes, relative midget that he is, looked vulnerable in the air. Second half was a scrappy afair until Savage came on (great to see him back, and Mahon too) and then for some reason we started playing amazingly well. ITM tucked his peno away nicely but it looked to be a soft decision from the ref; the handball in the first half was probably more of a penalty than the one that was given tbh. Barnard is a twat, argued every slight decision then looked a bit silly after failing to score from close range minutes later and was eventually taken off. Ref was correct to book their guy for diving towards the end. Southampton looked a very good footballing team IMO but didn't step it up in the second half; besides, we're due a bit of luck and it was a good battling performance. Vital and unexpected 3 points.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

What a result, what an atmosphere. What a game,...

SUPER WHITE ARMY!

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

Oh and to the Ian Moore "haters" who may be oddly quiet tonight. Second half he was fired up and I'll give you he unfortunately over-egged a pass or two in the final third due to excitement. But there can be no doubt...

nobody in the ground was as pleased as he was when he scored today. Delighted doesn't cover it, scoring in front of the Kop, that's what it's all about.

I was so pleased for him. IAN MOORE MOORE MOORE!!!!

 

[bigmart]

I cant say i was that impressed with southampton they looked dangerous for a while at 1 1 but wernt as good as they have been made out to be. You can see why lambert wont play much higher as he is carrying too much weight.

I thought we deserved the three points in the end welsh ggodison & edds were for me immense today.

A special word for ian moore for that penalty, very well taken and some nerve knowing how vital 3 points could turn out to be and yet again he gave his all.

 

[Ian]

Brilliant result. I don't think many of us expected all three points today. Southampton were in good form going into this game. They certainly had a better first half and like SonkORLY? says, we were stretched a bit out wide when they broke forward. Buy they broke forward in numbers and that looked dangerous.

Gladly, we had a really good second half. Although Southampton played some neat football at times, they never really looked like breaking us down in the second half and the subs made a difference. Bas made a difference when he came on, just with his presence and seemed to rub of positively on the players as we started to attack with some purpose.

Southampton started to become frustrated late on, with silly fouls, a bit of diving and a lot of whining to officials. All credit to our lads for that.

SWA!! \\/\\/

 

[Boz]

Did fear it was a bit like putting a stick into a hornets nest when Broomes put us into the lead with a header after a move developed on the training ground. The rest of the half was largely dominated by the Saints, though thought there was a push in the build-up to their equaliser. Aside from a shot from Zoum which went over the bar, we didn't give them much more to think about, though should have got a penalty for the handball after Broomes had played it.

Second-half was more even. Les thought they could have got a penalty for an O'Neill push, but after Bas came on, things brightened up for Rovers. Sordell had his poorest game to date. There was a good advantage played and ITM brought a decent save from their goalie. Then came our penalty, surprised it was given but a cool head by ITM to convert it. Good spot by the ref for the dive by their player shortly after after and we held out for a lucky win, but in our position any breaks going for us are welcome.

Lots of battling performances by white shirts. Think both full-backs were troubled by their wingers, I actually thought O'Neill coped slightly better than Zoum and was the right choice ahead of Logan. Midfielders all played well, McLaren had been unwell apparently. I was slightly surprised that Mahon came on, but he acquitted himself well. Good work for Curran and ITM up front, but Marvin looked out of his depth today.

Southampton looked as though they had some quality players but made too much use of the long-ball. Keeping possession and playing ball to feet, especially the tricky wide players might have paid dividends for them. Pardew's post-match comments gave the impression that they'd expected to win; bit of a rude awakening then, Alan.[-X

Finally, don't think the atmosphere was that great for much of the game, but did perk up towards the end. The crowd of 6.1k was disappointing, especially given the good away turnout. The policing seemed needlessly heavy handed, for not the first time recently and this is something that needs to be looked at.

 

[Davidchallinor]

I can't tell you fans how chuffed I was at today's result. It has made the fight against relegation much less of an uphill struggle. I'd urge Les, the team and the fans to see the Leeds game as a complete bonus and a point would be fantastic (let's face it, many of you thought we'd get nothing from the Southampton-Leeds matches, 4 points is like discovering a gold mine)....I'm so chuffed I think I'll reprise my pre-southampton-match message of some days ago here as many of you thought victory today was impossible......................
......................................I'm normally not like this but I feel that we should say f***-it, let's make this our cup final...with fa cup memories of 2001 let's go for the win. We expect next to nothing from the next two fixtures, at best 2 points, so let's go for three, as our goal-difference is seriously buggered, so it won't matter if they turn us over 1-4 etc etc
I say to Les, be brave, go for the first goal, and then ride the rollercoaster - that way this might 'make' our season

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Having read all the pre-match stuff on the forum, and phoned the Samaritans for help, just like everyone else I was expecting nothing but a heavy defeat yesterday.

Indeed even when Broomes scored it felt like a consolation goal. And when Saint equalised and started knocking the ball about like a training exercise I was still convinced we'd lose. But the lads dug in. Saints seemed to lose interest.

At half-time I said they were there for the taking (honest, I really did). Then came the tear-jerking moment of the season: the arrival of our own saint - Bas. I am not saying that he alone makes us a good team - he doesn't. But he makes us a better team. With him we seemed to have shape and options for long and short passing through midfield and out of defence.

We deserved to win: the stats might say otherwise, but for sheer determination and bravery, we deserved it. ITM's penalty was a golden moment, but for me, the standing ovation when Savage came on could be the decisive moment of the season. It seemed to galvanise the crowd and lift the players.

There's still a long road to travel to safety. Lose the next two tricky games and we could be pulled back down. But I believe we have turned the corner and Les and his staff deserve as much credit for that as the players.

I listened to 'Mathematically Safe' by Half Man Half Biscuit on the way home from the game. Hopefully about six weeks from now we will be.

 

[Boz]

Oh and to the Ian Moore "haters" who may be oddly quiet tonight. Second half he was fired up and I'll give you he unfortunately over-egged a pass or two in the final third due to excitement. But there can be no doubt...

nobody in the ground was as pleased as he was when he scored today. Delighted doesn't cover it, scoring in front of the Kop, that's what it's all about.

I was so pleased for him. IAN MOORE MOORE MOORE!!!!

NeverBeat, it has not gone un-noticed that Ian's main critic on here, BootleRover, has kept a low profile on this thread, since ITMs committed, match-winning performance yesterday.

 

[The Bootle Rover]

Still getting over a celebratory pint or two

And from the No 1 Moore knocker......I am happy MOORE than happy to admit that Moores effort and contribution was first class. In fact the whole team deserve acclaim for their efforts throughout.

Trying so hard brought them just rewards. Keep that endeavour up and it doesnt matter who gets in the team.....bar Shuker of course.

 

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

Delighted with the result and the performance. Saints have bought a good side and have genuine class all over the pitch however they were out battled by the lads. Well done Les and all the players tremendous result.................bring on diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirty Leeds!

 

[OneNightInGayParis]

Fantastic game yesterday - really enjoyed it. Believe it or not the first goals I have seen us score at PP on my 5th visit this season. Been trying to rotate the combination of family members and realised that No 1 Son is the jinx - I think (but if it was the 3 Canadian friends we took to their first match yesterday bringing me luck, then I've got a problem 'cos they're only here for 15 days) ...

Delighted to see Bas back, it made a real difference to have some stature up front and suddenly the same air balls that have been wasted on our midgets all season held some threat. (I don't think our central defenders realised that he had ever been away...). As the game started to spread out in the final quarter it was a sound move to bring Mahon on - Les no doubt thinking, like I did, that there was the space for him to slide some neat balls around and finish the game off. It was ironic that his impact was a couple of crunching tackles and wholewhearted blocks. Mahon the destroyer? A strange and wonderful day all round!

Very amused that a fan teasing a Southampton player when (not) giving him the ball back warranted the intervention of about 20 of HM's finest - I guess they must have been getting a bit bored ...

Bring on the Leeds - just a pity for the coffers that it has ended up a midweek fixture.

:-D:-D:-D

 

[Sparky]

It was amazing wasn't it !! I was one of those hoping we could sneak a draw and with 10mins to go I was nervously watching the clock tick down praying for full time and the game to finish 1-1.

Fair play to Les tho - I didnt think he would make any changes with the score 1-1 but Bas made a difference and Mahon added some width down the left.

Not much else to say that hasnt been said except does anyone know if Australia are in the World Cup ? If so, surely Gareth Edds should be in the squad! He was MOM in my opinion. Not only does he run and run but set up the 1st goal by heading it back across and won the penalty too!

An early contender for player of the year maybe ?!?!

 

[bigmart]

Australia are in the world cup they are in a group with germany ghana and serbia but gareth edds will not be selected as they ahve plenty of players playing top flight football in europe