• 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 Watford take 3

ONIGP

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Eddie Bishop
Interesting take from a Waford fan in terms of team selection below. From my perspective I have no idea what Tranmere side will turn up (Woodyard will be a miss) so difficult to call.

This was the team and subs who played against Tranmere:
Bachmann, Mariappa, Dawson, Spencer-Adams, Masina, Quina, Chalobah, Dele-Bashiru, Success, Gray, Pereyra.
Substitutes
Joo Pedro, Sarr, Dalby, Barrett, Whelan, Hungbo, Parkes
Amazing how things have moved on so quickly in such a short space of time for tonight there is no way we can now risk Dawson, Mariappa, Masina, Chalobah, or Sarr even though some of these are injured.
I think all of the younger ones will play again plus Pedro to start this time, Pussetto, Holebas, Kabasele and a little bit of tinkering?
Pereyra played on Tuesday so also unlikely to start - at least that will avoid the controversy of whether he should have been available or not!
 

Ian

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Watford favourites but not by much. Come on Rovers, let's see a performance!
 

Boz

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Blackett-Taylor replacing the Cup-tied Woodyard is the only change. 442?
 
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Holebas, Cabasele, Quina and Gray start for Watford but the rest seem like youngsters or fringe players.
 
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aldo
hope they like the pitch lol get at em close them down . come on lads do this lets not be pushed over
 

Ian

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Deserved lead at half time. Keep it going rovers!
 

Boz

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Couple of good chances to win it after Watford levelled. Think their youngsters may have more stamina in extra time.
 
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i told you i told . positive .amazing performance lads . thats what we need from now till the seasons end . only down side is Mullin and ferrier getting injured . the pitch is killing them as it did Watford
 

Boz

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Excellent and well-deserved win for Rovers. Think Mullin was down to cramp, but Ferrier looked more serious.
 
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A fantastic result and I don't think anyone could claim we did not deserve it.

The first half was completely dominated by Rovers, with a lot of good football played in addition to our battling qualities, but I thought we were worthy of more than a one goal lead and might pay for missed chances. As expected, Watford improved after the break and controlled the game for twenty minutes or so, but their equaliser was frustrating; a routine corner which we failed to clear despite having three or four players around the ball.

However, you have to give the players credit for the way they responded, both to wrest back control of the match in the last fifteen minutes of normal time, and then to dominate in extra time, despite the number of thirty-somethings that were out on the pitch. The spirit we showed was tremendous.

I thought everybody played well. Morris was hugely influential in the first half: CBT frustrates at times but caused them a lot of problems and had our two best chances other than the goal in the first half; similar to the Blackpool game, Ferrier showed that he can be effective as a lone striker with the right service; Mullin was excellent when he came on and caused their defence lots of problems with his movement; Rides and Monthe were both solid; Davies made some crucial saves, notably the one from Whelan in the second half; and it was a lovely ball from Gilmour from the second goal.

However, I thought the standout performers were Danns and Clarke. Danns showed unbelievable energy for a thirty seven year old and really deserved to score the winner in normal time with that burst on eighty nine minutes, and Clarke's positional play and reading of the game was fantastic.

Watford showed flashes of class, notably Quina, but played like a team of strangers for long periods of the game. We wanted the victory more as a club.

Hopefully this game will prove a turning point in the season. In addition to the excitement of the United tie, the £400-500,000 we will make will surely enable us to strengthen the squad further and give us a realistic chance of survival.
 

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Another special night under the floodlights in a game we fully deserved to win. The amount of good half chances we spurned was so frustrating but we did it before the dreaded penalties. Some great performances but I thought Danns, Perkins, Clarke and Manny were immense. Roll on Sunday!
 
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Perkins has been excellent in the last few games. He finally seems to have shaken off the effects of the injury he had a few months ago.
 

Ian

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Superb from Rovers. Good old Prenton Park nights. We were the better team throughout the game and deserved the victory. Watford rarely troubled us apart from the early spell in the second half as mentioned by @Rockfords Love Child . The amount of chances we had, the game should have been dead and buried and like @Sparky, I thought it was going to penalties.

Manny was probably my MOTM. He never put a foot wrong all game and capped it off with a goal. Clarke is excellent in the air and won many headers. Rides and Caprice did well on the flanks. Danns and Perkins put in an excellent shift as always and Ferrier ran himself into the ground again.

Roll on Sunday!
 

ADD

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Well what a great night that was - a great atmosphere with the SWA (and TBH Watford fans also) in full voice. A very good game of football on a difficult albeit drier pitch. Fair play to Watford - yes they rested their first team but these boys were up for it and interestingly for probably one of the few times this season the opposition committed more fouls than us.
Difficult to pick out individuals after a great team performance but I thought Clarke and Danns were absolutely immense. Manny also solid as a rock and now a "prolific goalscorer" as MM mentioned in his press conference after!! Rides also has massively improved recently and is now producing solid performances week after week. Fair play to him as he has come in for a lot of stick! As said above Perkins seems to be over his injury and again is looking good whilst Morris was excellent again and Jennings solid. Ferrier battled so hard it was unreal - balls to him on the deck and he can do it. CBT was good in patches but still needs to be more consistent. Davies made as always a couple of great saves from long distance shots (his forte) but was at fault for the goal not holding the header and spilled an easy cross. He still seems a bit ring rusty to me.
Caprice was ok but at this level now we have Clarke anchoring the defence and Rides much improved is the one person that to me needs replacing and then if the rest continue in this vein we can stay up with a couple of other recruits..
Anyways here's to Sunday - whatever the result bound to be a great day and most importantly hopefully the cash windfall will allow MM to strengthen with a couple of additional signings - he said after the game we had to incidentally!!
 

Ian

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As an afterthought, the club have come in for some stick this season, some of it pretty harsh and it's not been an easy ride in the league so for that, I hope the players and Micky really enjoy the victory! Although not too much as we have a game on Sun!.. :p
 
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As an afterthought, the club have come in for some stick this season, some of it pretty harsh and it's not been an easy ride in the league so for that, I hope the players and Micky really enjoy the victory! Although not too much as we have a game on Sun!.. :p
You just wonder what kind of deals we might be able to push through with the United money. I don't want to get my hopes up, but adding some genuine quality in the attacking areas could be the difference between survival and relegation.

Micky's post-match comments make it clear just how big tonight's game was to us financially.
 
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