Tranmere Rovers 1 – 1 Barnsley

An impressive crowd at Prenton Park on Boxing Day saw Rovers lose maximum points in the dying seconds as they were held to a draw by in form Barnsley. A crowd of over 11,500 saw Rovers take the lead with almost a quarter of an hour still to go through Iain Hume’s nineth

Rovers Boss Brian Little made four changes to the side beaten 6-1 at Hull last week, two of them due to injuries. Russell Howarth recovered from concussion in time to replace the injured John Achterberg, with youngster Phil Palethorpe taking Howarths place on the bench. The returning Chris Dagnall replaced the injured Gary Jones up front whilst Ryan Taylor returned from suspension at the expense of David Beresford who dropped to the bench. The final change was the replacement in Midfield of Danny Harrison with captain Jason McAteer back from injury. This change was to ultimately have an impact on the game’s outcome.

There was one other unusual change just before the game with Rovers forced to change ends and shoot towards the Kop in the first half. Within five minutes of the start, Hume fired a good chance over the bar after beating the offside trap and 10 minutes later beat keeper Ross Turnbull but the ball flashed across goal and wide.

In between those Hume chances, Barnsley had a couple of chances in front of their own supporters that were thwarted by good blocks first from Goodison and then Ryan Taylor the second of which appeared to stop a certain goal.

On the half hour, a Ryan Taylor corner was met by Iain Hume who could only head badly into the ground and over the bar from half a dozen yards. More half chances for both sides saw the game through to half time at stalemate.

At half time Little made two changes, replacing Dagnall with Dadi and Beresford replacing Goodison and Roberts moving to left back. It’s fair to say that both substitutes made a decent impact in the second half with Dadi often combining well with Hume and Beresford involved in a number attacks down the left hand side. It would also be fair to say that Tranmere were probably slightly the better side in the second half with Beresford having a good chance after a Taylor free-kick was half cleared and Dadi having at least three good chances before Tranmere took the lead with quarter of an hour to go.

Hall did well down the right hand side and ran into the area. Dadi knocked down Hall’s cross for Hume who finished well from a dozen yards and sent the majority of the huge crowd into celebration.

However in typical Tranmere style they left their fans anxious to the very end as the one goal cushion began to look like it was not enough. The fans fears came true in injury time when captain McAteer picked up the ball just outside his own area but instead of hitting it clear he decided to dribble the ball out, lost it to a Barnsley player and substitute Anthony Kay was able to finish past a helpless Howarth from just inside the area and was subsequently booked for taking his shirt off.

Tranmere remain in third and still four points ahead of fourth but Hull and Luton both won to open an even bigger gap from Rovers at the top. Next up is Walsall on Tuesday for Tranmere and they will really need to get out of this dip as soon as they can.

Iain Hume – for his well finished goal and general threat during the game on a day when the defence once again looked shaky and the midfield below standard at times.

Tranmere: Howarth, Taylor, Sharps, Jackson, Goodison (Beresford 46), Hall, McAteer, Rankine, Roberts, Dagnall (Dadi 46), Hume.

Substitutes not used: Palethorpe, Whitmore, Harrison.

Bookings: Rankine, Hume

Barnsley: Turnbull, Hassell, Williams, Reid, Vaughan, Burns, Chopra, McPhail (Nardiello 81), Boulding (Conlon 76), Kay, Shuker (Carbon 76).

Substitutes not used: Colgan, Austin.

Bookings: Kay

Referee: Mr J Ross