Tranmere 1-0 Brighton

[Joe_TRFC]

Tony Kay last minute winner!!! Get in! Performance sounded poor but at moment i don't really care! \\/

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Another vital goal at the death - and this time for us! Now we're actually above Leeds - not that that's saying a lot!

 

[SonkORLY?]

Not a tremendous performance, but probably good enough to have deseerved a win.

In the first half we were fairly well in control of the game - some good deliverys into the box that didn't quite fall for us, their keeper made a save or two, missed oppertunity here and there...we generally kept the ball well and played some decent stuff. Going into half time, I was fairly confident Brighton would retreat further and further back and we'd probably get a goal. BTW, I've not seen a side play so negatively at PP as Brighton did in the first half this afternoon. I'm pretty sure they played 4-5-1 first half, and switched to 4-4-2 for the second.

(Which seemed to work)

Because in the second half, Brighton decided to have a bit of a go at us. Before we scored, they fired against the post from 8 yards out, and had a very strong penalty claim turned down by a ref who, otherwise, had a very good game. Despite the resurgance, we were probably decent value for our win. The problem, for a change, wasn't getting men forward; rather, making the right decision when we got in good positions. As the game wore on, Savage and Shuker continually made light work of getting into very promising positions before playing terrible, over-hit balls into the box. But this isn't the first time we've scraped through a game like this, and it's not a bad quality to have.

Chorley was excellent today, which was particulaly important given that Goodison wasn't. Jennings also had a good game. Shuker had an off day but looked fairly sharp, though lacking in a final product. Certainly no worse than Sonko would have managed, though. Savage started the game tremendously but struggled second half.

 

[Boz]

I thought Brighton were unlucky, but it makes up for the cup games when the luck was against us. 1st half was even, Rovers had a couple of early chances, but wasn't til about the 40th minute that we tested their keeper with a Kay thunderbolt. 2nd half they came out much more positively and had a number of chances and the penalty shout. Agree generally with sonkORLY? about players save for Jennings who imo was poor, we seemed to get overrun in midfield 2nd half. Wilson did make a difference. Also a guest appearance from gormless George, taken over Ahmed's role as raffle drawer.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Accurate summary. I was most disappointed with the fans who decided booing was the best option. It was a terrible day weather-wide, didn't appreciate that until I left the ground, so allowances had to be made. And why boo when Greenacre got subbed? He's only had 2 games and 1 training session i n a month and I thought struggled today. He had to go off.

Still, a nice little result which we can hopefully build on with a positive performance and result at Hereford. Surely we must go for it there...

PS. O'Callaghan. 1800 quid a week to do the half-time draw. Tell you what, I'll do it for a grand a week. Bargain.

Happy Christmas one and all.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Jenno made some good challenges IMO. Kay made none, although in fairness, he contributed a goal. can't really give him much credit though, he just happened to be there. That was all he did. I didn't appreciate him taking his shirt off either, fat ****. Would like to see Wilson start in his place, but will never happen.

When that bloke with the mic announced Uncle George was doing the half time draw, I was immediately drawn to the slightly overweight Father Christmas walking out of the dugout. If only...

Happy Christmas Tranny fans.

Love from SonkORLY?

xxx



PS: Ronnie said we were boo'd off at half time...were we really? I didn't even notice...and what was the Greenacre thing about?

 

[Boz]

While I don't think Kay made as many tackles as usual, he was involved in some good passing triangles and had a shot on target each half, more than could be said for our strikers. I didn't see him get booked for the shirt waving either. Can't recall a saving tacke or any major creative play from Jennings, who's not in line for a slimmer of the year award either. Apparently we had 17 shots, can only assume the statto counted in some of the misplaced crosses from Bas & Shukes. I didn't register the h/t booing, but it happened more than once in the 2nd half. Think we needed to bolster the midfield and either Moore or Greenacre could have gone off. There may have been a perception of favouritism in Ronnie's choice, hence that booing.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

There seemed to be booing from the Kop/Main Stand when Greenacre was subbed.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Think we needed to bolster the midfield and either Moore or Greenacre could have gone off. There may have been a perception of favouritism in Ronnie's choice, hence that booing.

Yeah, I didn't think of it like that. I was certainly surprised to see him come off for a central midfielder. I guess it worked though, coincidental to the result or otherwise, Wilson - a far more accomplished passer of the ball than either Jenno or Kay - certainly had an effect on the game when he came on. At the time, I'd have rather seen Gornell or even Sonko. Interesting that you praise Kay's passing, as I think it's one of the weaker areas of his game (alongside that which doesn't involve heading or talking)

 

[Ian]

Kay had a good game IMO. Much better then Jennings who I thought whilst not poor, he didn't make an impact. Kay was a lot more active and was involved with a lot of the play.

Greenacre was doing OK, usual tireless performance from him but he did suffer and it turns out the sub was a good one. Wilson did well when he came on.

I think a draw for both sides would have been fair. Whilst we had some good chances in both halves, so did Brighton especially in that second half.

Brighton's gameplan was actually quite a good one and would have worked well if they were more clinical in front of goal. Forster had the legs to beat Goodison and although they looke defensive at times, they were simply playing good counter attacking football, waiting for our boys to make a slip in those conditions. It happened a few times and Goodison appeared shaky at the back at times.

Really, Brighton should have been leading in that second half, but can't complain, how many times do we get a late winning goal? Delighted with the win, but now Ronnie has to get some consistency into the side. You have to be looking for at least a draw at Hereford, but will the lads put in a good performance?

 

[roverstillidie]

Goodison has had flu for a week which explains his performance.

He made some vital blocks and interceptions in the second half though.

 

[Ally]

Really pleased with the result. Attendance - 4,885 - very worrying. We used to have a core of abut 6,500 - 7,000 home fans who would turn up to every league home game, but that seems to have dropped considerably this season. Credit crunch/economic crisis/global meltdown whatever you want to call it defo has some impact, but a drop by this much is quite alarming really.

 

[Ian]

Attendances have been falling at the rate of about 500 a season for the last few seasons. The game before Xmas is generally bad anyways, but this season has seen attendances around the 5000-5500 mark. It will only get smaller the more stagnant we become. Very sad to see..

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Regarding attendences, the game before Christmas is always smaller because of Christmas shopping etc. Attendences are bound to drop with the credit crunch, but not helping is the poor displays and the quality of the football in this division. It si pretty poor.

Anyway, about the game, not much to say, thought we deserved to lose but grabbed a jammy goal at the end, albeit Ian Moore's shot had the only touch of class we had all game.

SWA \\/