A Tranmere Rovers reserve team including Mike Jones, Craig Curran, John Achterberg, captain Adnan Ahmed and trialist striker Hugo Fernandez last night picked up a Pontins Holidays Reserve League point thanks to a 0-0 draw at Prenton Park against Morecambe, who were third in the table before kick-off.
By Matthew Jones
A strong Tranmere Rovers Reserve side failed to take their chances last night as they picked up a 0-0 draw with Morecambe Reserves at Prenton Park in the Pontins Holiday's Reserves League.
Shaun Garnett was able to select first team players John Achterberg, Craig Curran and Mike Jones in his side, whilst Adnan Ahmed took the captains arm band and trialist Hugo Fernandez partnered Curran in attack. For Morecambe, former Liverpool player John Newby started up front.
Tranmere had the first chance of the game in the opening ten minutes, as Adnan Ahmed shot narrowly wide before trialist Fernandez broke clear of the Morecambe defence, only for his weak shot to be comfortably saved by the Morecambe goalkeeper.
Many of Rovers' attacks were from either the left through Dave Wilson or through youngster Mike Jones, with Jones forcing a save early on from a tight angle whilst Jones tried to play a few neat flicks and passes through to the Tranmere strike force.
At the other end, Morecambe threatened, with Achterberg making three or four good saves with his legs as he kept the ball out of the net whilst a number of other shots went high or wide of goal.
The best chance of the half, and perhaps the game, fell to Adnan Ahmed on 26 minutes. The midfielder engineered his way through the Morecambe defence and into the penalty area. His initial shot from 16-yards was saved by Jalal and the rebound came straight back to the Pakistan international, but he blasted the ball well over the bar.
In the second half, both Tranmere and Morecambe had less chances as the game became tighter. Rovers midfielder Tom Beahon could have scored just before the hour mark as he squeezed an effort just past the post.
On 62-minutes, Craig Curran was replaced upfront by Terry Gornell, shortly before Morecambe started to come into the game more as they squandered a number of chances, including one one-on-one which was some how blasted well wide of Achterberg's goal.
Rovers survived a free-kick which went just wide of the goal whilst Adnan Ahmed should have scored in the final ten minutes as a beautiful Tranmere move saw the ball fall to him from Wilson's pass in the Morecambe penalty area, but a rush of blood to the head saw Ahmed smash over the bar from eight yards out.
0-0 it finished then, but Tranmere could have had four or five, whilst Morecambe themselves would have scored had it not been for Achterberg, who made one stunning save in the first half as he dived to his right to palm the ball out for a corner.
Ahmed could have had a hatrick whilst Fernandez looked weak upfront, with Curran and Gornell seeing limited chances as it was upfront for Rovers.
Nice report MATT just one point tho the trialist has to be given a chance but after 2 minutes you could see he didnt have a clue wouldnt say it was nerves he was totally rubbish if he was taken off at half time we would of deffo won tranmere played with 10 men an thats the truth he did nothing all game apart from fall over all the time.
Whoever brought him for a trial must be holding his head in embarrassment because i would be
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