The highly anticipated Merseyside Derby pre-season friendly ended in a 1-0 win to Liverpool but Tranmere were by no means disgraced and came close to scoring themselves. All of the new signings were given a run out at some pointin the game as Prenton Park was full to the brim.

Rovers starting line-up was a mixture of old and new

Coyne

Taylor Kay Chorley Curtis

Jennings O'Callaghan Edds

Shuker Moore Greenacre

Liverpool started with a number of big names such as Carragher, Agger, Lucas, Pennant and Benayoun.  Also Gerrard, Aurelio, Hyypia, Skrtel and Voronin were named on the substitutes bench.

The opening to the game was a bit scrappy and the only shot on target came from Chris Greenacre who shot wide from a tight angle.  Plessis and Pennant both had effort on the Rovers goal but nothing came of them.

Benayoun and Pacheco both tried to open the scoring but after half an hour Danny Coyne was relatively untested.

Pennant was struggling to get into the game as Andy Taylor had him under control and Curtis seemed to be doing well on the right hand side.

Pennant then curled a wonderful effort goal wards and it hit the bar and away to safety to the relief of the Rovers fans.

The deadlock was then broken minutes before half time when Yossi Benayoun curled in from outside the area giving Danny Coyne no chance after the initial goal threat looked to have been dealt with by the Rovers defence.

Just before half time Andy Taylor hit the post from a superb low free kick for Rovers as the game remained very close.

Half-Time: Tranmere 0-1 Liverpool

During half time Liverpool made a number of changes to their side with Hyypia and Skrtel slotting into defence at the expense of Jamie Carragher and his central midfield partner from the first half.

It was ten minutes into the second half before Rovers made any changes with new signings Edrissa Sonko and Bas Savage coming on along with Craig Curran to replace the front three of Shuker Greenacre and Moore.

Bas Savage did well holding the ball up and showing flashes of pace and determination. Also Sonko showed some nice touches and creative ideas as Rovers looked to get back into the game.

Edrissa Sonko Looked Decent on His Debut

Steven Gerrard then came on as a substitute and got a huge applause from the Liverpool fans even the Tranmere fans were probably interested to see him in action.

Shortly afterwards Adnan Ahmed then joined the action and did well making some well timed tackles and looked an altogether decent prospect for the forthcoming season in central midfield.

With 15 minutes left Curran crossed for Sonko whose header flashed narrowly wide before Craig Curran himself then headed over after Andy Taylor had crossed in from wide left in what was Rovers best chance of the half and possibly of the game barring Taylor's first half strike of the post from his free-kick.

Andrei Voronin then wasted a chance late on as Rovers defence stayed strong, forcing the Ukranian to pass and suddenly Liverpool's chance was gone.

The game then ended 1-0 so the European Cup Winners of 2005 only won against Tranmere by a single goal and Rovers also had chances to get something out of the game.

Tranmere were by no means disgraced and put in a good performance in front of a full house, hopefully some of those fans will come back for the new season which begins in four weeks time.

Full-Time: Tranmere 0-1 Liverpool