Tranmere Rovers
Match Preview: Tranmere Rovers v Gateshead
By Louise Formston
March 4 2016
As Tranmere prepare to host Gateshead at Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon, Louise Formston returns with her match preview ahead of the game.....
Football returns to Prenton Park this weekend with the first game of spring as Gateshead gear up for their first visit to the Wirral in over 40 years. The game will be tight with three points and play off places up for grabs - it’s a high stakes fixture.
Form and Previous Fixture:
Rovers head into this game fresh of an away win at local rivals Chester and having lost just two games in 2016 so far. Gateshead meanwhile are close behind Rovers in the League Table, two points behind to be precise.
Seventh placed Gateshead had an unbeaten January but have had a patchy February that has seen them rack up three wins, two draws and two losses – including a 4-0 beating by fellow playoff chasers Dover and an FA Trophy game against Halifax on Tuesday that after 120 minutes and six goals, needed to be separated by penalties.
Gateshead will not be going to Wembley just yet. Back in August, Tranmere travelled North and returned with all three points as they beat Gateshead 4-1. I sadly missed the entire of the game having returned from the States eight hours earlier and was in the midst of the best 16 hour sleep I’d ever had!
Injuries and Suspensions:
Jay Harris will again miss out as his serves his second game of his two game ban for picking up ten bookings this season. Lois Maynard missed out last weekend through injury but it’s looking like he’ll return for Saturday’s game. Whilst there’s no injuries been announced for Gateshead, they did play 120 minutes midweek in bad weather so there’s a possibility they could be fatigued ahead of Saturday’s game.
The Opposition Dugout:
In charge of Gateshead is Neil Aspin. The former defender played for Leeds, Port Vale and Halifax before turning his hand to management in 2005, taking over at Harrogate. Aspin was with Harrogate for four years before moving to Halifax in 2009. In his first three seasons with Halifax, Aspin oversaw three promotions and a National League play off semi-final. However, he was given the boot in September 2015, with Halifax occupying the bottom of the table. By November, Aspin had been appointed as manager of Gateshead and remains there still, by all means having a very successful season.
Gateshead Squad:
First to mention is former Tranmere loanee Danny Johnson who signed for Gateshead last summer. With 24 appearances and seven goals, he’s not been hugely prolific but that’s why he’s playing in the National League and not the Premier League. Still, I don’t fancy a former player scoring against us so here’s hoping he spends 90 minutes in the back pocket of Steve McNulty.
Ryan Bowman is Gateshead top scorer with 15 goals this season. Quick mention for Sam Russell, goalkeeper – having spent six years with Forest Green Rovers, Russell made the move north last summer on a free transfer and has been Gateshead’s number one all season. Amongst Gateshead’s squad are two South Africans – Darren Holden and Matty Pattinson.
My Starting XI:
Davies - obviously no explanation needed here. Vaughan upped his game against Chester, and with McNulty, Iheikwe and Ridehalgh we’ve got a fantastic back four.
Steve Jennings and Hughes made a great pairing in the middle last weekend, so they retain their places. Mekki and Kirby also retain their places after they both put in cracking performances last weekend. Just in front of the midfield is Gary Taylor-Fletcher - Brabin made a huge mistake waiting until almost the end to bring him on last weekend.
His quality is all still there and should he fail to play 90 minutes, there’s always Stockton, Margetts or Higdon to go on. Up front James Norwood - with Mekki, Kirby and GTF all around him, I’m not worried about it looking like we have one up front of paper. In reality, we know Mekki will drift inside as well Kirby and GTF.
Score Prediction? I got last week’s prediction right but not sure I can do it again! We need to start scoring from open play or we won’t get play offs. I don’t think we’ll get a second penalty in two weeks so maybe 1-0 or 0-0 this weekend.
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04/03/2016 14:05
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