Tranmere Rovers
Match Preview: Tranmere Rovers v Welling United
By Louise Formston
March 31 2016
As Tranmere prepare to host Welling United on Saturday afternoon, Louise Formston returns with her match preview ahead of the game.....
As the season draws to a close, each game is getting more and more important for Tranmere and their attempts to secure a play off place. But this weekend’s game will be more poignant than any. The news of Johnny King’s passing midweek has led fans to reminisce on what once was for their club, and left them wondering what could be as we face our final games.
I’m sadly too young to remember the Johnny King era in Rovers’ history but I’ve been brought up on stories of it and dreamed of seeing my own trip to the moon. Personally I don’t feel we could have a more fitting tribute to the great man that achieving promotion in his memory. The fans won’t need reminding to support the team on Saturday, and Brabin has just had his team talk written for him – go out and play for the greatest man this club has ever had.
Form Guide:
Welling come to Prenton Park eight points from safety, having played more games than any other team around them. Despite their League position, second from bottom four points ahead of Kidderminster, Welling will visit full of hope after goals from Kevin Lokko and Nortei Nortey ended their 23 game winless run on Easter Monday as they picked up three points against Woking.
Rovers meanwhile had an incredibly successful Easter weekend, picking up six points thanks to wins against Lincoln and Kidderminster. That win over Kidderminster has meant Rovers are back up to fourth in the table, and made it ten away games without defeat for the first time since December 1983-April 1984. Since the start of the year Rovers have only lost twice, both losses coming at home against Macclesfield and Cheltenham. Should we fail to go up this season, I have a feeling our home form might be to blame.
The Goalscorers:
James Norwood scored two from open play on Monday – his first goals from open play since the end of January, to put him on 19 goals for the season, 17 in the league. By comparison Welling’s top scorer Sahr Kabba (yes that Kabba) has only racked up six so far. Rovers’ fans may remember Kabba from the fixture between the two sides back in September.
With the game shown live on BT Sport, viewers around the world watched as Kabba feigned injury, and succeeded in having Rovers’ Ritchie Sutton sent off allowing Welling to score an equaliser. However, Rovers successfully appealed the red card, thanks to the vast amounts of video evidence available and Kabba became the first footballer to be charged by the FA for feigning injury under a new law brought in at the start of this season.
Team News:
Adam Mekki missed the game at Aggborough after picking up another knock against Lincoln but hopefully he will return as soon as possible to the side. Jay Harris also took a knock over the Easter Weekend but it likely to be fit enough to start at the weekend. Welling have no new injury concerns ahead of the weekends game.
The Opposition:
Since Rovers last faced Welling, the Wings have changed Managers, sacking Louis Fazakerly in January and replacing him with Dean Frost. The managerial change didn’t quite have the desired effect and Welling are still fighting relegation. Top scorer Sahr Kabba is definitely one to watch, but I expect Rovers fans will already be keeping an eye out for him whilst on loan Chelsea defender Nortei Nortey has started adding some goals for the club.
Around the League:
Perhaps the most important section of the preview of late:
Cheltenham vs Grimsby: This game is being played on Friday Night and will be live on BT Sport. With Cheltenham too far away for Rovers to catch, a Grimsby loss would give Rovers an opportunity to close the gap further.
Dover vs Halifax: Dover face a resurgent but not safe yet Halifax. It’s never easy to play teams scrapping for survival but when you need a play off place as well the pressure is added. Following their loss to to Boreham Wood on Monday here’s hoping the wheels have come off Dover’s promotion bus.
Eastleigh vs Guiseley: Eastleigh were one of only two teams around Rovers to win on Easter Monday and as such they’ve kept with the play off pack. Guiseley have struggled for form of late and are on the brink of being sucked into a relegation battle so will be desperate for points.
Forest Green vs Wrexham: Forest Green are too far ahead to bother Rovers but a win for them could see Wrexham out of the play off chase. With Wrexham still to visit Prenton Park in the league we could do with Forest Green crushing them.
Gateshead vs Torquay: It feels like we’ve only just played Torquay but they are our next away day – travelling there on the 9th April. Torquay are another side battling for survival but we could do with them having an off day when we visit.
Macclesfield vs Braintree: Braintree lost on Easter Monday, allowing Rovers into the play off spots and pushing themselves out but with a lot of games left to play for Braintree they’ll still feel they are in with a chance. Here’s hoping Macclesfield can do what they did to us and beat Braintree.
Braintree, Dover and Grimsby (as well as Torquay) all have to play on Tuesday 5th April as well as the number of games played will start to level out.
My Starting XI:
Davies
Vaughan McNulty Ihiekwe Hill
Kirby Harris Jennings Mekki
Fenwick Norwood
Assuming Mekki is fit, he should see his place back in the starting eleven. Whilst he will definitely not complete 90 minutes, the options of Jack Mackreth and Jeff Hughes on the bench means this isn’t a total disaster. Harris over Hughes for starting places because Harris has been much better since returning from suspension and I think this is a game where tackles will need to be made continuously – something I don’t think Jeff Hughes does as much.
Fenwick to start simply because him and Norwood have played 20 minutes together so far and there has been glimpses of good partnership potential. Fenwick is willing to do the running for Norwood, and has a good positional awareness. Monday saw him running into the box repeatedly taking up good positions in the hope of a lose ball – who’s done that recently?
Score prediction? 2-0 Rovers and we retain our play off spot!
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31/03/2016 20:23
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