Tranmere Rovers 3 - 1 AFC Bournemouth

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

Good game despite the horrendous pitch and weather conditions. We dominated the weak opposition for almost all the match, excepting a short (10 min) spell in the second half where they managed to get their tails up a bit.

Could have been 5,6 or 7 goals to us, for once we made chances and took chances, often forcing saves from their keeper (who was good, and even clapped our fans, which is rare these days) and from one defender who threw himself at a shot from young Jennison Williams.

Steve Jennings man of the match, put himself about and did the defensive / destructive part of a good midfielder's job superbly, oh and scored a goal as well.

 

[Ian]

Yes, agreed. It was a good game, the pitch was damn wet wasnt it! Ironically, this one of the best I've seen them play for a while at home. I honestly think the conditions suited our style of play. Aimless balls actually stopped before they went out of play and players were able to get onto the end of them.

I thought Andy Taylor and Shane Sherriff formed a good partnership down the left side. I like Taylor, very tidy player, and Sherriff impressed me more than I thought he could in that position with some trickery deep into the Bournemouth half.

Yes, Jennings was excellent today, and as a whole, our defence played well also. The ever improving Kay was solid, Goodison and Chorley also looked assured for the best part.

Apart from a few moments of madness from Zola, I thought he had a really good game today. He took his goal well, got slightly fortunate with the ball at his feet, but nice delicate chip over the keeper. His all round play was good though.

Zola is fine when he has to make quick decisions on the ball, he becomes slightly comical when given to much time, like the incident in the first half when he recieved the ball, decided to run along the penalty area instead of towards it, then mis-hit his shot ending up on his arse. I guess we just gotta learn to love him!

Great to see Greenacre battling for the ball, sliding around and generally giving 100% as per usual.

I have reservations about Myrie-Williams though. He seems to possess pace, but some of his passing and shooting left a lot to be desired. And we didn't seem to miss Shuker today!

All in all, very pleased with the result and performance. It was worth getting wet for. Poor attendance today..

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Credit to both teams for making a good go of it in horrendous conditions. Days like that make you glad you have an all-covered ground. The pitch resembled a swimming pool in places.

Rovers totally dominated and I agree with almost everything said in the previous posts. Big question can we use this as a springboard (sorry!) to get the season back on track....?

 

[Joe_TRFC]

Good win. Jennison myrie williams sounded decent although possibly lacking an end product? Good to see Zola get a goal. I still have some faith in him. And hopefully Greenacre can continue picking up goals too.

 

[Boz]

Horrible weather conditions, got soaked walking up from the bus station to Prenton Park and frozen thereafter. Have a lot of empathy for the players on both sides, who did surprisingly well under the circumstances, tho' there were times when an abandonment looked possible. Certainly the worst weather conditions where a game has gone on in recent memory.

I thought the game was fairly even until we scored, thereafter Rovers on top, excepting a spell at the start of the 2nd half. The penalty decision seemed a little harsh, although it didn't generate too much protest.

Defence. credit to Coyne, Taylor and Chorley all of whom had solid games. for me Goodison had an off day, seemed to pick up an injury early on and a bad mistake for their goal. Kay was ok, save one horrendous clearance across our area, but in view of the above thought Stockdale should have come on for Goodison earlier.

Midfield; if Jennings was good, McLaren was well below par and looked as though he'd rather be in bed. Sherriff did well on the left, Jennison-Myrie was involved a lot, but as a left-footer had difficulties down the right.

Attack; Both Greenacre and Zola are battlers, even when not on form and a credit here. While I'm not Calvin's greatest admirer, he was the MoM for me today, odd how a lad from the Congo can adapt better to a wet n windswept Wirral than an Englishman called McLaren.

Because of the conditions, could understand why Ronnie didn't make much use of the bench on this occasion.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

Zola was good, and the complete unpredicability of will the ball stop dead or will it skid around on the surface really suited him. Shame that the lad still needs a brain transplant, to a footballer's brain, if he's going to keep his place in the team even at our level.

Goodison was clearly playing injured again. He just was not at the races, and only the poor opposition and some excellent work from the other players around him saved our blushes on all occasions but one, which of course was the goal they scored after his bad backpass. Perhaps Goodi is too big a personality, and being team captain, Ronnie doesn't seem to be able to drop the lad, even if he's spent a week unavailable and the team has trained one system - if Goodison declares himself fit on the day, he plays. Recently I do believe that the unwillingness to drop this less than fit player has cost us league points.

Yes Mclaren was very quiet, but he's a neat passer without much fire and brimstone to his play, so being quiet in those conditions was no surprise at all. Williams was eager to score, and while that desire to impress is a brilliant quality, a couple of times I did think if only he'd crossed or passed it, instead of going for shots that ended up looking like conversion attempts. Also he's very very one-footed, which is something he will need to improve. His best chance, the one after beating the keeper that was saved by a diving defender didn't go in because he took four touches to bring the ball under control, giving the defender time to get in the way.

 

[Boz]

Mostly agree with Neverbeat above, but in respect of McLaren, there were 2 incidents in the first 10 minutes, one where probably due to the conditions his pass went astray and he shrugged, then a failure to taack back after we lost the ball in midfield. He's hardly Elano, so should take more responsibility.

Williams? :???: