Tranmere Lose In A Poor Game At Vale Park
By Jackson January 16 2005
Not alot of positives to say aobut this game. It lacked quality, excitement and most of all Tranmere. The team looked nothing like its normal self and failed to conjure up anything like there better selves. Now we have Bournemouth on Friday, hopfully we can bounce back.
By Jackson January 16 2005
Not alot of positives to say aobut this game. It lacked quality, excitement and most of all Tranmere. The team looked nothing like its normal self and failed to conjure up anything like there better selves. Now we have Bournemouth on Friday, hopfully we can bounce back.
Port Vale 3 – 1 Tranmere Rovers
Birchall 9, 52 Jackson 73
Paynter 17
Where do I start? The words sloppy, disgraceful and inept don’t even begin to describe this game as in a dire night at Vale Park Tranmere failed to turn up for the first half in what I would personally describe as possibly the worst 45 minutes I’ve ever seen Tranmere play.
In a game that had four substitutions in the first 40 minutes (two for each team) Port Vale came out of the blocks quickly while Tranmere defended like a Sunday League side and by half-time the hosts were two-nil to the good with early goals by Birchall and Paynter. Any hopes the Rovers fans had of a second half comeback were wiped out within seven minutes of the re-start when a slick move mixed with yet more poor defending gave Birchall his second of the night and ended the contest despite Rovers’s late pressure and Mike Jackson’s consolation header.
Rovers starting line-up against injury-hit Port Vale was the same as that which had won 1-0 at Macclesfield seven days earlier in the LDV Vans. Simon Haworth was out injured and despite being free from suspension for this game, Calvin Zola was unable to play due to a currently unresolved residency problem. Jason McAteer was also absent again from Midfield leaving Jackson as captain.
It was clear from the first minute that Tranmere were in trouble at the back as mistakes first from Taylor and then a stray Goodison back pass handed Port Vale two chances within the first 90 seconds which somewhat set the tone for not just the first half but almost the whole game. The defence seemed unable to communicate whilst the Midfield appeared to be second to every ball or playing sloppy passes.
Tranmere were made to pay within 9 minutes of the start as first Goodison and then Jackson backed off allowing Birchall, scorer against Tranmere in the 2-1 LDV win over Vale earlier in the season, to score with a neat finish into his bottom left of the goal. It didn’t get any better for Rovers as the pressure continued although one chance fell to Hume which went wide of Brain’s goal. On 17 minutes though it was 2-0 as Birchall found Billy Paynter after yet more poor defending and he finished neatly to cue further moans about our defence from the supporters behind Achterberg’s goal.
On the half hour, Little brought the clearly struggling Goodison off and brought on Beresford, switching Roberts to his natural left-back position. This had some effect as the pressure seemed to ease but some Rovers fans were slightly angered when on 40 minutes Gary Jones replaced the ineffective Whitmore. Rovers survived until half time with no further damage other than a Taylor booking for dissent just before the break.
A few chants at half-time of “we’re going to win 3-2” proved to be a false hope as on 52 minutes Port Vale went 3-0 ahead with another passing move that was not dealt with properly ending with Birchall scoring his second goal of the night and his 3rd against Tranmere this season.
Port Vale may well have stepped off the gas after that goal because what followed was a Tranmere show that was much more like what we have seen from them this season. A number of attacks were created, this time Vale were camped in their own half with most attacks going through Roberts and Beresford on the left. Sharps had a header from a corner cleared of the line before a spate of Tranmere corners resulted in the goal their recent pressure had deserved when Jackson headed in a flicked on Roberts corner from about 2 yards out.
Tranmere continued to attack and had another chance cleared off the line, this time from substitute Dadi, but time was running out. Just before the end, the Vale keeper Brain had two rushes of blood in the space of few seconds. Firstly he miskicked a clearance straight to Hume 18 yards out. The striker ran at goal but waited to long before shooting allowing the defender to get to the ball before him but in a second mad rush of blood the keeper picked up the back pass giving Rovers a free-kick 8 yards from goal which Taylor clattered onto the bar and over from Roberts lay-off.
The final whistle led to a few boos from the Rovers end and as news filtered through that Luton had also lost, some fans took this as consolation at not losing any ground but many others saw it as another missed opportunity to catch up to the leaders.
All in all despite the good 20 minute display in the 2nd half, this performance was unacceptable and I’m sure Brian Little will agree. Certainly we must be better on Friday night at home to Bournemouth who were winners over highly placed Bradford last night.
My Rovers Man of the Match: Gareth Roberts
In a bad game for the defence Roberts seemed closer to his usual solid self than most of the other players did. Credit also to Gary Jones who did a lot of chasing and jumping for the ball in the time he was on the field.
Teams:
Port Vale:
Brain, Pilkington, Cummins, Lowndes (Eldershaw 9, Hanson 79), Paynter, J.Smith, Reid (Porter 18), D.Smith, Brown, Rowland, Birchall
Subs Not Used: Anyon, Armstrong
Tranmere:
Achterberg, Taylor, Roberts, Jackson, Sharps, Hume, Rankine, Hall (Dadi 62), Goodison (Beresford 31), Whitmore (Jones 40), Harrison
Subs Not Used: Howarth, Jennings
Bookings: Taylor (44)
Attendance - 4027
Birchall 9, 52 Jackson 73
Paynter 17
Where do I start? The words sloppy, disgraceful and inept don’t even begin to describe this game as in a dire night at Vale Park Tranmere failed to turn up for the first half in what I would personally describe as possibly the worst 45 minutes I’ve ever seen Tranmere play.
In a game that had four substitutions in the first 40 minutes (two for each team) Port Vale came out of the blocks quickly while Tranmere defended like a Sunday League side and by half-time the hosts were two-nil to the good with early goals by Birchall and Paynter. Any hopes the Rovers fans had of a second half comeback were wiped out within seven minutes of the re-start when a slick move mixed with yet more poor defending gave Birchall his second of the night and ended the contest despite Rovers’s late pressure and Mike Jackson’s consolation header.
Rovers starting line-up against injury-hit Port Vale was the same as that which had won 1-0 at Macclesfield seven days earlier in the LDV Vans. Simon Haworth was out injured and despite being free from suspension for this game, Calvin Zola was unable to play due to a currently unresolved residency problem. Jason McAteer was also absent again from Midfield leaving Jackson as captain.
It was clear from the first minute that Tranmere were in trouble at the back as mistakes first from Taylor and then a stray Goodison back pass handed Port Vale two chances within the first 90 seconds which somewhat set the tone for not just the first half but almost the whole game. The defence seemed unable to communicate whilst the Midfield appeared to be second to every ball or playing sloppy passes.
Tranmere were made to pay within 9 minutes of the start as first Goodison and then Jackson backed off allowing Birchall, scorer against Tranmere in the 2-1 LDV win over Vale earlier in the season, to score with a neat finish into his bottom left of the goal. It didn’t get any better for Rovers as the pressure continued although one chance fell to Hume which went wide of Brain’s goal. On 17 minutes though it was 2-0 as Birchall found Billy Paynter after yet more poor defending and he finished neatly to cue further moans about our defence from the supporters behind Achterberg’s goal.
On the half hour, Little brought the clearly struggling Goodison off and brought on Beresford, switching Roberts to his natural left-back position. This had some effect as the pressure seemed to ease but some Rovers fans were slightly angered when on 40 minutes Gary Jones replaced the ineffective Whitmore. Rovers survived until half time with no further damage other than a Taylor booking for dissent just before the break.
A few chants at half-time of “we’re going to win 3-2” proved to be a false hope as on 52 minutes Port Vale went 3-0 ahead with another passing move that was not dealt with properly ending with Birchall scoring his second goal of the night and his 3rd against Tranmere this season.
Port Vale may well have stepped off the gas after that goal because what followed was a Tranmere show that was much more like what we have seen from them this season. A number of attacks were created, this time Vale were camped in their own half with most attacks going through Roberts and Beresford on the left. Sharps had a header from a corner cleared of the line before a spate of Tranmere corners resulted in the goal their recent pressure had deserved when Jackson headed in a flicked on Roberts corner from about 2 yards out.
Tranmere continued to attack and had another chance cleared off the line, this time from substitute Dadi, but time was running out. Just before the end, the Vale keeper Brain had two rushes of blood in the space of few seconds. Firstly he miskicked a clearance straight to Hume 18 yards out. The striker ran at goal but waited to long before shooting allowing the defender to get to the ball before him but in a second mad rush of blood the keeper picked up the back pass giving Rovers a free-kick 8 yards from goal which Taylor clattered onto the bar and over from Roberts lay-off.
The final whistle led to a few boos from the Rovers end and as news filtered through that Luton had also lost, some fans took this as consolation at not losing any ground but many others saw it as another missed opportunity to catch up to the leaders.
All in all despite the good 20 minute display in the 2nd half, this performance was unacceptable and I’m sure Brian Little will agree. Certainly we must be better on Friday night at home to Bournemouth who were winners over highly placed Bradford last night.
My Rovers Man of the Match: Gareth Roberts
In a bad game for the defence Roberts seemed closer to his usual solid self than most of the other players did. Credit also to Gary Jones who did a lot of chasing and jumping for the ball in the time he was on the field.
Teams:
Port Vale:
Brain, Pilkington, Cummins, Lowndes (Eldershaw 9, Hanson 79), Paynter, J.Smith, Reid (Porter 18), D.Smith, Brown, Rowland, Birchall
Subs Not Used: Anyon, Armstrong
Tranmere:
Achterberg, Taylor, Roberts, Jackson, Sharps, Hume, Rankine, Hall (Dadi 62), Goodison (Beresford 31), Whitmore (Jones 40), Harrison
Subs Not Used: Howarth, Jennings
Bookings: Taylor (44)
Attendance - 4027
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