By Deadly Submarine
April 4 2006

A decent performance from Rovers saw them triumph 3-0 against a poor Port Vale side thanks to goals from Calvin Zola, Steven O’Leary and substitute Steve Davies. The victory ensured that Rovers recorded a season double over the Potteries side following the 2-0 win at Vale Park earlier in the season.

 

 

                    Zola 28

                    O’Leary 58

                    Davies 78                      

                          

Attendance: 6,926

 

 

After the last dose of Friday night football in which Rovers lost 2-1 to a struggling Walsall side, Rovers fans would have turned up at Prenton Park for the game expecting much better this time around and they got it as Rovers produced a hard-working and entertaining display to see off Port Vale for the second time this season with a 3-0 victory.

 

After dominating most of the first half and notching up several chances, Rovers finally broke the deadlock through Calvin Zola to give Rovers a 1-0 half-time lead.  Further goals from Steven O’Leary and substitute Steve Davies made the game safe for Rovers with still over ten minutes remaining as the Valiants failed to find a reply.

 

There were two changes from the Rovers side that twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Yeovil last Saturday as injured on-loan goalkeeper Matt Murray was replaced by Steve Wilson in goal and Ian Goodison made way for Delroy Facey as Brain Little opted for a 4-3-3 formation from the start.  Steve Davies made it onto the bench as Little opted not to name a reserve goalkeeper among the substitutes.

 

After a bright opening from Rovers, it was the home side who registered the first shot on goal when Calvin Zola was brilliantly set up by Chris Greenacre but the Congolese striker could not get enough power on the shot to cause Marc Goodlad any problems in the Vale goal.

 

David Raven had a long range effort blocked as Rovers continued to have the best of the possession but Steve Wilson was still called into action soon afterwards to deny a long range effort from Cummins which the goalkeeper pushed behind for a corner.

 

Rovers began to get a real grip on the game and peppered the Vale goal with chances.  Steven Jennings looked certain to put Rovers in front after a wonderful period of quick, passing football that saw the midfielder in the clear around ten yards from goal.  However, Goodlad did well to get  hand on the ball to prevent the goal and the defence cleared to safety as other Rovers players were lurking.

 

A few minutes later a speculative effort from Chris Greenacre went just past the outside of the post and that chance was the best of around half a dozen chances that fell to Rovers top scorer in the opening 25 minutes.

 

After Facey forced Goodlad to gather a shot and then a Jennings’ effort almost saw the Vale keeper take the ball over the goal-line, the home side’s pressure finally paid off on 28 minutes as they took a deserved lead.

 

An exchange of passes between Chris Greenacre and Calvin Zola saw the latter run onto the return ball from Greenacre and finish low past Goodlad to the surprise of certain sections of the home crowd who couldn’t tell at first that the ball had gone in.

 

Yet more chances fell for Rovers after the goal with Zola coming close to a second with another good strike and Delroy Facey shooting wide in injury time.  In between, Wilson caught the ball after Jeff Smith produced a long-range effort as the dominant first-half for Rovers came to an end.

 

At half-time the injured Ian Sharps was replaced at the back by Ian Goodison and it looked as if his match was over just five minutes into the second half when he was hit full in the face by a Nathan Lowndes shot and was flat out for a couple of minutes.  However, after some treatment from Les Parry, he returned to the action.

 

Jason McAteer fired a free-kick over the bar from around 25 yards after Gareth Roberts had been fouled and just a minute later, Jennings fired a low free-kick from almost the same position which went just wide.

 

Just before the hour mark Rovers doubled their lead with a great team goal.  After playing an accidental one-two with the referee, Steven Jennings fed Delroy Facey down the right and the striker produced a wonderful curling cross which Calvin Zola stabbed back into the path of an unmarked Steven O’Leary whose low finish went through a crowd and into the goal for 2-0 Rovers.

 

The visitors failed to produce any real clear cut chances on the Rovers goal in the second half as Jackson and in particular Goodison were outstanding in the centre of defence for Rovers.  Goodison was forced to clear off the line with Wilson seemingly beaten after a Vale corner.

 

Steve Davies replaced Calvin Zola with twenty minutes left and after Delroy Facey had struck the outside of the post from a tight angle, the young substitute scored a third goal for Rovers.  Steven Jennings ran through the Vale defence and with home fans screaming at him to shoot, he instead played the ball left to Steve Davies whose shot seemed to go through the goalkeeper Goodlad and into the net.

 

Rovers had two further chances for Raven from long range and then Greenacre but Vale rarely threatened even a consolation and Rovers saw out the game conmfortably for all three points.

 

Next up is the trip to relegation threatened Rotherham United next Saturday – Kick-Off 3.00pm.

 

 

Jason McAteer:  The Award should possibly go to the whole team for a very positive and entertaining display and picking out one individual is difficult but McAteer seemed more than comfortable in midfield and help to hold it all together as part of an effective team.

 

 

 

 

Brian Little Speaking the Tranmere Rovers Official Website:

"It was a good performance," he said. "We played well and the system we adopted worked for us. As we went on the lads got a lot of confidence.  We started brightly and both sides looked lively. They looked the sort of side that if they went 1-0 up it would be a hard game for us, so the first goal was good for us.”

"I was disappointed to come in at half time only 1-0 up as we had two or three good chances. But it is great to get over 50 points. It's not over yet but it is quite a landmark for us.  Tomorrow is a big day, the teams at the bottom could win and the gap could again be only  five or six points.” 

“Next Saturday is going to be important to us.  We know Rotherham are fighting and we'll just try to build on this.”

"We had a message late yesterday that Matt's Achilles was a little bit sore so we decided to rest him.  It's something he's not had before so Glenn [Hoddle] and I thought it was best to be rested. I t has come out of nowhere.  The most important thing is for Matt to be right.” 

“We had no worries about putting Willo in, he looked very solid today.  He's done nothing wrong for us in the time he has been here. Today he showed his calmness and authority.  Ian Sharps' hamstring was tight. The last thing we need was for him to go out in the second half and damage it.  It might well be damaged now and he might miss a week or two. But if he had gone out and played he might have missed the rest of the season.”

"Ian Goodison got a real whack in the face. I think he was a bit dazed.  But in fairness if he plays like that he can get dazed every week as he was really good.  I've got a lot of time for Ian.  He's a real pro who gets on with things."

"Jenno needs a run of games. I felt last week that because of his energy we needed to look that way. He didn't play great at Yeovil - nobody did - but his energy level showed right at the end when he raced back from our corner to save on our line. Today I thought he was really excellent and it was good to see him play.”

"Stevie, Steve O'Leary and Danny Harrison are three excellent young midfielders who, if we can retain all three would be a big plus for us."