Tranmere head into back-to-back away games this week tasked with finding a way to win games of football, something that has been tricky for them once again this season.
However, the inability to win is probably the only consistent thread running from the previous two or three campaigns.
The early weeks of the season were filled with positivity, and rightly so. A rebuilt Rovers team started to show signs of being a very exciting proposition – some great attacking football had the SWA enjoying matchdays again (at last), but sadly some of that positivity is beginning to ebb away.
But should it be?
If a neutral observer was to cast an eye at Rovers’ results and the League Two table, they would be forgiven for assuming that it’s ‘more of the same’ at Prenton Park.
But while the fragility that the team has shown late on in games and the inability to put in good performance for a full 90 minutes are both real concerns that are costing the team points, there is still a lot to be positive about. And a lot that flies in the face of that casual observation.
Tranmere need to score more goals, of course they do. Defeat to Barnet on Saturday was tough to take, any home loss is. But Rovers competed very well again in the first half and led at the interval. Second half was, however, a sharp contrast.
And that is a pattern that has plagued Rovers since the beginning of the season.
Aside from the Chesterfield game, which was marred by another late collapse, Tranmere have been excellent at times in almost every game this camaign.
The performance at home to Rotherham, first half especially, was superb. Yet a catalogue of missed chances and a naively conceded stoppage time penalty gave the Millers a point.
Walsall should also have been dispatched comfortably at Prenton Park, another very late goal costing us two points.
Newport away was three points in the bag until the final minutes. Gillingham away was a game we were very comfortable in, didn’t take our chances, and then fell off a cliff second half.
So of course, it’s a worry that we aren’t racking up the wins as we probably should have done to this point, and that trend must stop. The longer it goes on, you’d expect the weight of the league position to then become heavier around the players’ necks.
Rovers now look to Northampton away on Tuesday night, followed by Crawley away on Saturday. While both games will be a real scrap, Tranmere have demonstrated that they posses a lot of quality.
Can they now make it count, turn it into goals, and see games out?
Opportunity to climb the table
As frustrating as it is that Rovers should probably be at least six points better off right now, it’s still very early in the season. And therein lies the potential.
This team – still very early in its evolution – has shown fight, desire and quality so far. If that does really start to click for longer periods in games and the wins start to come, Rovers could easily find themselves motoring up the table.
The current League Two table is incredibly congested. Currently, only five points separate second bottom all the way up to seventh. Tranmere may be down in 17th position, but they’re also only three points off that seventh spot, which is of course the final play-off spot.
All of that counts for nothing if we do not start to see the team win games, but it also should give plenty of optimism, based on what we have seen the team do at times this season, that there is a real opportunity still there.
Tuesday’s opposition, Northampton Town, are on 10 points, 22nd in the table. Crawley, to whom Rovers travel on Saturday, have only five points and are rock bottom. If Darrel Clarke’s team is to start picking up points, the next five days present an opportunity to do that.
