Total Tranmere - Jennings Goal Grabs Victory for Rovers

Jennings Goal Grabs Victory for Rovers

First Rovers Goal!

By Deadly Submarine October 19 2005
Goals in either half from midfielders Mark Rankine and Steven Jennings gave Rovers a much needed win over their League Two opponents in the LDV Vans Trophy first round at Prenton Park. After being pegged back by The Imps on the stroke of half-time, Rovers dealt the visitors a second blow late on.

Breathe a sigh of relief but don’t roll out the banners and flags of celebration just yet! Rovers finally ended their eight game winless run at home to Lincoln in the LDV Vans Trophy first round but they made mighty hard work of it despite going ahead in a match for the first time in five games.

Manager Brian Little stuck with his first team side rather than opting to play youngsters in the competiton this year and in a game where a win was desperately needed, this was probably just as well.

Paul Linwood who returned early from a two month loan spell at Wrexham this week went straight into the starting line-up at right-back in place of Alex Bruce who was not included in the 16-man squad. Also returning to the starting line-up was Sam Aiston on the right side of midfield in place of Calvin Zola who had started in a three man attack at Bristol City on Saturday.

Zola was joined on the bench by youngsters Carl Tremarco and Steve Davies and also Steve Wilson and Theo Whitmore.

The game started off in quiet fashion with Rovers having perhaps the better of the early possession. A neat move on the left hand side put Delroy Facey in with a clear shooting opportunity but inexplicably the ball went wide of the target with just the goalkeeper to beat.

Tranmere were lucky not to go behind when goalkeeper John Achterberg threw the ball straight at Lincoln’s Nat Brown but Brown was unable to reach the loose ball and the danger was cleared by Rovers.

Seconds later, the home side were ahead themselves as Mark Rankine broke in to space on the right hand side of midfield and as the Lincoln defence seemed to hesitate, Rankine unleashed a shot from around 25 yards that deflected off a defender and past the helpless Marriott in the Imp’s goal.

The story of Rovers season so far seems to have been mistakes and hesitancy in the defence and once again a similar story unfolded as the visitors hauled themselves level on the stroke of half-time.

The home defence failed to clear the ball and Nat Brown was left with virtually a free shot which took a deflection of Ian Goodison and beat John Achterberg for the equaliser. So after being in front, Rovers left the field level at half-time to a chorus of boos around Prenton Park.

Rovers created a number of good chances as the second half progressed with Sam Aiston looking a threat for Rovers on the right side of midfield. Chris Greenacre headed a cross over the bar and also after a neat pass by Goodison, fired just wide of the Lincoln goal as Rovers came close to regaining the lead.

With 15 minutes remaining, the goal finally came and it was worth waiting for. Steven Jennings picked up the ball in the centre of the pitch and played a pass out to Greenacre who then returned the ball to Jennings. After perhaps missing a good opportunity to shoot first time, Jennings ran at the defence and unleashed a tidy finish past the goalkeeper in to the bottom left corner to give Rovers their second lead of the night.

Rovers resorted to time wasting perhaps too early with around nine minutes still remaining and after Davies and Zola replaced Greenacre and Aiston, Rovers managed to hang on for a much needed and hopefully morale boosting win that also puts them in this Saturday’s second round draw.

Next up is Colchester United at Prenton Park on Saturday at 3.00pm. Colchester had a bye to round two in tonight’s LDV competition.

Man of the Match Award

Sam Aiston – A return to the starting eleven for Sam Aiston saw him put up a good performance on the right hand side of midfield as Rovers looked threatening on occasions in attack.

The Managers Views

Tranmere Manager Brian Little (speaking to the Official Club Website):

"We can't just think everything will fall into place, it's not that way. While we have been a bit unlucky recently, it's deeper than that. There are a lot of things we need to improve upon. We improved on some things tonight as we scored two goals and we haven't done that for a while. It's not a turning point but hopefully it is a start.

"The attitude of the players was spot on. I thought about a lot of the things over the weekend and one of those was one of the last home wins against Oldham. We tried to pick a team that was as close to the one against Oldham as we could. We turned the clock back a little bit and have got a win on the back of that. Whether it is right or not time will tell."

"We encourage Steve Jennings to look forward and get forward. Stevie too often looks backward but he's a great athlete and a good finisher. When he gets forward you have to tell him not to stop trying. Even if he doesn't score he has to keep doing that as he has the potential of being a very good player.

"We gave him quite a bit of responsibility tonight and I think he enjoyed that. I was pleased with his performance and we haven't scored goals from midfield so it was nice to see those players getting in good positions."