By Deadly Submarine
April 1 2006

Another goal from Chris Greenacre was not enough for Rovers as a brace from Grant Smith saw Walsall snatch a 2-1 win at Prenton Park on Friday Night. Neither side really deserved all three points but a combination of poor finishing and lapses at the back from Rovers saw Walsall seal the points.

 

 

Greenacre 64                       Smith 41

                                                                               Smith 72

                          

 

Attendance: 6,615

 

 

Friday Night football at Prenton Park usually gives Rovers fans something to cheer about but this time it was different as the home side performed poorly and ultimately allowed Walsall to take a much needed three points back to the Midlands.

 

For the second time in twelve months, Grant Smith scored a brace to sink Rovers, a feat he also managed last April for Swindon Town when the Robins beat Rovers 2-1 at the County Ground.  Rovers had drawn level after Smith’s first goal but were soon behind again and never recovered thereafter.

 

Brian Little stuck with the same side for the third successive game following two excellent Rovers victories against Swindon and Chesterfield, with the 4-4-2 formation once again being utilised.

 

The signs were good early on and Rovers could have been ahead after just ten seconds when good work from Zola and Tremarco down the left hand side presented Greenacre with an early chance we could only flick into the hands of Andy Oakes in the Saddlers goal.

 

Rovers had the better of the possession for much of the first half but failed to create any real noteworthy goalscoring chances in the opening twenty minutes.  Walsall on the other hand, produced a couple of promising attacks but were foiled by the Rovers defence, with Ian Sharps on particular in good form for Rovers.

 

On 25 minutes, Rovers should have had the lead when McAteer’s free-kick was headed goalwards by Mike Jackson but Andy Oakes produced a fantastic save when the ball looked destined for the top corner and tipped it over for a corner.

 

David Raven had a decent chance for Rovers after a good one-two with Tremarco but his cross was cleared and then a few minutes later, Pablo Mills lobbed the ball wide of Dino Seremet’s goal at the other end.

 

Just five minutes before the break, the home side took the lead after Zola had been somewhat harshly penalised for a foul on the halfway line.  From the resulting free-kick, the ball was played down the Walsall right and when Ian Sharps dallied on the ball, Barrowman stole it off him, fed Grant Smith on the edge of the area and the on-loan striker volleyed superbly past Seremet to give Walsall the lead.

 

Rovers Boss Brian Little made two changes at half-time, replacing wingers Sam Aiston and Carl Tremarco with Delroy Facey and Steven Jennings as the home switched to a 4-3-3 formation as they tried to get back into the game.

 

Rovers continued to have the best of the possession in the second half and looked threatening with the three strikers working well together upfront.  Zola missed a couple of decent chances for Rovers after combining well first with Greenacre and then on another occasion with Facey.

 

Four minutes after the hour mark, Rovers’ pressure was finally made to count as Delroy Facey shot goalwards from 20 yards and when Oakes parried, Chris Greenacre was on hand to score his 17^th goal of the season and draw Rovers level.

 

Delroy Facey shot wide shortly after Rovers equaliser and Zola and Facey combined well soon after but Facey’s curling shot went just wide of the post.  Zola fired high and wide when it looked easier to score soon after and Rovers were made to pay just a few moments later as the visitors got themselves back in front. Kevin James crossed for Grant Smith to head home his second brace against Rovers in eleven months with a virtually unmarked effort as Rovers defence once again fell asleep.

 

Rovers finished the game the stronger as they looked for another equaliser and had two decent penalty shouts in the closing stages.  The first came when Chris Greenacre looked to have been felled from behind by Anthony Gerrard on the touchline and then just a few minutes later Calvin Zola seemed to play the ball off the arm of a Walsall defender.

 

Neither decision went Rovers way though and Walsall held out for a much needed win that sees Rovers move back down towards the relegation zone.  Next up is the long trip to struggling Yeovil on Saturday (March 25^th) when Rovers will be looking to bounce back and get three important points that will see them further towards safety in League One.

 

 

Chris Greenacre:  Scored yet another poachers goal and did well to hold up the play when Rovers were on the attack.

 

 

 

 

Brian Little Speaking the Tranmere Rovers Official Website:

"I can't believe we've lost. We had one little warning in the second half where the left sided player got a header in but we went to sleep for both goals. We have given them two goals and missed two or three chances.”

"Their goalkeeper pulled off a great save in the first half, a really good save down to his right in the second half and a one on one with Calvin.   We should have won the game. At 1-1 there really was only one winner, and we've gone to sleep and been punished.  It is very disappointing as tonight was have given us a big gap from the bottom if we had won.”

"We should have scored some of the chances.  It's not a bad performance it's just a bad result."We felt we didn't get too many decisions go our way.  The little fouls went against us and it kept their momentum going. There was a little bit of time wasting that they were allowed to get away with.”

"In fairness to Sam (Aiston) he has done really well lately but he just couldn't get into the game.  To tweak the team meant to play a 4-3-3. I don't think it was the wrong thing to do but we made another mistake. We were our own worst enemies."

"Carl (Tremarco) had done nothing wrong in the first half but we tried something. We upped the game in the second half and had three strikers there to make things more difficult which worked. But we made another mistake.”