By Deadly Submarine
April 1 2006

Another dismal display from Rovers sees them slump to their first defeat of 2006 as Barnsley’s first half goal proved enough. Paul Heckingbottom’s first half header also spelled the end of Rovers run of eleven league games without defeat stretching back to Boxing Day’s 1-1 draw at Walsall.

 

 

                                                                      Heckingbottom 16

 

Attendance: 6,802

 

 

With Tuesday’s debacle against Hartlepool still fresh in the minds of many Rovers fans as they arrived at Prenton Park on Saturday, there was still some hope of a good game as surely there couldn’t be two such dire games on the trot?

 

In the end the game was better than Tuesday night (which in all honesty was hardly impossible to achieve) but Rovers still looked flat and once again never looked like scoring against a decent Barnsley side.

 

A first half goal from Paul Heckingbottom handed the Tykes a lead which following the goal, they didn’t really look in danger of losing as Rovers failed to pressurise the visitors defence at any point in time.

 

Brian Little made three changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Hartlepool on Tuesday night with on loan Liverpool defender David Raven making his debut at right back, with Simon Francis moving into right midfield for his final game at the Club before returning to Sheffield United.

 

Mark Rankine replaced Danny Harrison in midfield and Ian Goodison was brought in to deputise for the suspended Ian Sharps at centre back.  Sam Aiston moved from the right to the left of midfield as Carl Tremarco had to settle for a place on the bench.

 

As was the case on Tuesday, the game as a whole had few clear-cut chances for either side and Tranmere were under pressure just once in the opening ten minutes when Dino Seremet dropped the ball and the resulting clearance was somewhat scuffed by captain Mike Jackson.  Fortunately for Rovers the danger passed and Rovers began to create a few chances of their own.

 

Delroy Facey scampered down the Rovers left and turned the ball back across the penalty area but there were no white shirts there to meet the ball and Barnsley cleared the danger.  On 14 minutes, Sam Aiston forced a corner and from the resulting set-piece, Delroy Facey headed wide of goal.

 

Just a minute after Facey’s miss the visitors forced a corner after Ian Goodison had done well to block a shot from Tommy Wright.  Unlike their hosts just moments earlier, the Tykes made their set-piece count as the ball was played short to Chris Shuker who had been linked with a move to Rovers in the summer.  Shuker crossed the ball into the area and as Tranmere slept, Paul Heckingbottom made the most of his free header and put the Tykes in front.

 

Tranmere were not done though and despite the game being scrappy in midfield, Rovers had a few chances to level soon after going behind.  Sam Aiston looked the biggest threat to the Tykes defence and forced Colgan into a save before a Gareth Roberts free-kick presented another good chance.  Facey flicked the free-kick on to Greenacre who laid the ball off for Simon Francis but the on loan defender scuffed his shot wide of Colgan’s post.

 

Facey created another chance for Rovers which was headed over by Steven O’Leary and shortly after Mike Jackson picked up a booking that was his fifth of the season, ensuring that he will now miss the trip to Oldham next Saturday.

 

In first-half stoppage time, Delroy Facey missed what turned out to be Rovers best chance of the whole game as he got on the end of a Greenacre flick-on but fired horribly over after leaving it too long to shoot and allowing the ball to bobble in front of him.  So Rovers trudged off at half-time 1-0 down to a chorus of boos.

 

In the opening minute of the second half, Jackson’s seemingly goalbound header cannoned off Chris Greenacre and went over the crossbar before Francis, Aiston and O’Leary all forced Colgan into saves to keep Barnsley in the game.

 

Whilst Rovers were now creating some opportunities, they didn’t really look like converting them so when Steve Davies and Steven Jennings replaced Mark Rankine and Sam Aiston just after the hour mark, there was hope that Rovers could get back into the game.

 

Sadly it wasn’t to be as Facey and O’Leary missed chances for Rovers whilst at the other end Paul Hayes forced Seremet into a save.  With the final seconds ticking away, Jackson almost scored what would have been one of the most comical own goals for a long time as he dallied on a backpass and then passed the ball perilously close to his own goal-line before Seremet kicked clear.

 

That proved to be the last action of the game as the ground echoed to the sound of boos.  The result sees Rovers drop to 13^th in the League One table but still only four points from the final relegation place.  Next up is a pair of away trips starting with a visit to Oldham on Saturday (February 25th) – Kick-Off 3.00pm.

 

 

Ian Goodison:  Although the defence switched off for the Barnsley goal that turned out to be the winner, Ian Goodison looked solid throughout the game and dealt well with whatever came his way.

 

 

Tranmere Rovers:  Seremet, Francis, Jackson, Goodison, Roberts, Raven, Rankine (Jennings 66), O'Leary, Aiston (Davies 66), Facey, Greenacre.

Substitutes Not Used: Wilson, Harrison, Tremarco.

Barnsley:  Colgan, Hassell, Kay, Austin, Heckingbottom, Shuker, Burns, McPhail, Devaney (Williams 89), Richards (Nardiello 77), Wright (Hayes 61).

Substitutes Not Used: Flinders, Howard.

Booked: Jackson and Raven (Tranmere), Wright, Burns and Nardiello (Barnsley)

 

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)

 

 

Brian Little Speaking the Tranmere Rovers Official Website:

"We've lost a game where the opposition haven't really had a shot on goal. We went to sleep for a corner and I'm pretty disappointed about that.  We threw it away.  For the first ball into the box nobody was alive and alert, and the second we didn't do our jobs.  We weren't great but I didn't think we were any worse than them.”

"The enthusiasm in the first half was poor.  We managed to muster up a bit more in the second half but by then they are 1-0 up and as a team at the top end of the table they have hung on fairly comfortably.”

"The players tried to get the game going in the second half, but once we were behind it was difficult to get in.  We looked tired and jaded and as if we were waiting for something to happen."

"The disappointment is we're not in the top section of the league.  That sometimes outweighs what you're trying to do.  Since Boxing Day I have looked at trying to get as many points as I can and trying to finish the season comfortably.”

"You look at Barnsley, Brentford and teams like that and they're not going to lose enough games for us to catch them.  But we need everybody to help us.  We are in a position where we need help.  Criticism is obviously going to be there but at this moment in time we need to stick together. We need to see the season out, do good work in the summer and go for next season.”

"We have a group of players who need help from people.  Dino for example has kicked a couple of balls out of play when it has bobbled.  The last thing he needs is a cheer / jeer when he kicks one properly.  He has done terrifically since he has been here and he is the sort of person we want to attract to the Club”

“They will just not come if they get booed like that. That's not helping players.  At half time we said to the players try your best to get the crowd on your side.  But if they're not on your side you've got to be professional enough to get on with it.' It's no good on the last day of the season everybody turning up and cheering the side for winning the game that keeps them in the division. You need people to help you all through the season.”

"We have had a difficult season but we have tried our best and I don't think we got any help today."

"I had to give David (Raven) a game and I wasn't going to leave Simon out of the side.  It was important to ease David in as he has not played football for a while.  The idea of playing Simon in front of him was to have a little bit of protection.  There was nothing wrong with the set up of the side, we just didn't find enthusiasm.”

"He was tired at the end but he has settled in well.  The lad Devaney is a good player but he didn't have too many problems against him. We'll miss Mike Jackson next week as he got booked and will be suspended and that doesn't help as we are having to shuffle the team."