After Saturday’s opening day defeat at Swansea, most fans would have agreed that a better all-round performance was needed at home to Blackpool and in fairness to the team, that is what the fans got,  However, a defence that had looked reasonably solid on Saturday despite conceding a goal, looked somewhat out of sorts in this game as two goals were conceded for Rovers from Blackpool corners.

Iain Hume had put Rovers ahead on 37 minutes before Scott Vernon equalised for the Seasiders on the stroke of half-time.  Almost immediately, Rovers were back in front through a fantastic strike from Chris Greenacre to give the Whites the lead at the break.  After half-time Rovers’ nemesis of recent years, John Murphy scored against Rovers yet again, from another corner kick to make it 2-2 which is how matters ended.

Brian Little was forced into just one change from the side that started at Swansea on Saturday with Calvin Zola missing out with a groin injury sustained in the opening game.  He was replaced upfront by Iain Hume.  Once again Jamaican Theo Whitmore was on the bench despite having missed the whole of Rover’s pre-season campaign after being forced to return to Jamaica with Visa issues.

The game began with an early chance for Blackpool’s John Doolan after a couple of minutes but his shot went wide of Achterberg’s goal.  Tranmere played some good football but took a while to register a decent chance on goal as Blackpool looked the more dangerous going forward.

After Peter Clarke had registered another Blackpool chance that just went wide, Tranmere seemed to get into their stride and the goalscoring chances started to flow.  On 21 minutes a Gareth Roberts pass found Chris Greenacre in space but he was offside and the chance passed.  A minute later a ball across the field from McAteer fell for Roberts who powered a shot just past the right hand post.

Roberts again had the chance to put Rovers ahead just after the half hour but his shot was expertly parried by Pool keeper Lee Jones and then cleared to safety.  However the save of the game and possibly of the season was to come just two minutes later when a Keith Southern header that looked odds on to be a goal was almost inexplicably met by a low reaching hand from Achterberg who was then able to smother the ball.

Five minutes later and the deadlock was finally broken by the home side.  Jason McAteer showed great skill to keep the ball up a few times before chipping the ball forward into the penalty area where he found Goodison.  When it looked like a shot may be on for the Jamaican, he instead squared the ball to the unmarked Iain Hume who made no mistake from a dozen yards, lifting the ball into the roof of the net.

It took just eight minutes for the visitors to restore parity when a Blackpool corner resulted in a long range shot from Prendergast which was saved brilliantly by Achterberg but Scott Vernon reacted quickest to fire home the rebound.

The first half drama was not over there though as barely sixty seconds after equalising, Blackpool fell to a second blow this time from Rover’s home debutant Chris Greenacre.  He ran on to a flicked pass by Iain Hume and fired a wonderful shot beyond Jones into the top right hand corner to hand Rovers a 2-1 half-time lead.

Rovers began the second half promisingly and looked more than capable of adding to their half time lead.  Just five minutes into the half, Greenacre looked to have been felled in the penalty area by Mark McGregor but the referee waved away the loud appeals from the home support and instead gave a corner to Rovers.

Iain Hume had a chance to add to his tally but his shot went wide before Ian Goodison produced an uncharacteristic mazy run at the Blackpool defence before unleashing a shot that he scuffed wide of goal.  Achterberg was forced to save from Southern yet again as Blackpool created the odd chance themselves.

If anyone was looking more likely to score the next goal though it was Rovers and they came as close as is possible twice in the space of ten seconds when Greenacre’s excellent turn saw him fire a shot against the post and when the ball rebounded to Gareth Roberts, the Welshman fired his shot against the crossbar and eventually the Seasider’s cleared the ball to safety.

After being dominant for most of the second half, it was a cruel blow to Rovers when the visitors levelled the game for the second time and once again, as he does so often against Tranmere, it was John Murphy who headed home when the Rovers defence seemed to fall asleep at a corner kick.

Theo Whitmore and Danny Harrison replaced Sam Aiston and Mark Rankine in the second half, Rankine having taken a blow to the head.  After Achterberg had denied Murphy a second goal, Rovers had a glorious chance to win the game when a Gareth Roberts cross found Paul Linwood unmarked at the far edge of the penalty area but in true defender style he blazed high over and into the Cowshed Stand.

So it finished 2-2 and Rovers were somewhat harshly booed off at the final whistle.  The inability to deal with set-pieces ultimately proving their downfall but still much promise particularly in the Greenacre and Hume partnership and the performance of John Achterberg. 

Rovers now face Oldham Athletic on Friday night who are currently top of the table after taking six points from six so far.

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