After last week’s cup defeat at Barnet which included the worryingly familiar late collapse, Tranmere will be pleased to return to league action on Saturday when they travel to Fleetwood.
Darrel Clarke will be keen for his team to put the Barnet defeat behind them and instead build on their recent league form which has seen them unbeaten in their last three games, taking seven points.
That upturn in results has allowed Rovers to climb the congested League Two table with the team currently sitting in 11th position, but only three points off third place. Victory at Highbury against a strong-yet-inconsistent Fleetwood could well propel Rovers into the top seven.
It feels like a long time since Tranmere have been able to talk about even troubling the play-off places in League Two, at least if we ignore the greatest of all false dawns when we won at Harrogate on New Years’ Day this year and got somewhat ahead of ourselves.
We are only 14 games into the season, a season which has seen Rovers (once again) undergo a full rebuild, and we’re not there yet. The early weeks of the campaign saw Tranmere play some of the best football we’ve seen for years, but not get rewarded by way of points due to the habit of shipping late goals.
Ignoring the Barnet game, there have been signs that the defensive solidarity is being built. Northampton were shut-out convincingly in the 1-0 win at Sixfields, Crawley grabbed a goal but offered little else in the 1-1 draw and save for the first minute goal Cheltenham scored at Prenton Park, they weren’t afforded many other opportunities in front of goal as Rovers won convincingly.
There are of course still concerns going forward. The likes of Whitaker, Ince and Jones have showed some sublime quality this season, but as a team, far too many chance have been missed. The Jersey Mike’s Trophy game at Stockport his week highlighted how short Rovers are of quality attacking options behind the likes of Ironside and those mentioned above.
Tranmere’s troubles with Fleetwood
So, can Tranmere continue their good league form and go and grab a win at Fleetwood? They’ll certainly be backed well; the Rovers fans have once again sold out their away allocation of tickets, despite it being an evening game which is being shown on Sky Sports.
Last season’s 1-0 home win on Boxing Day is Tranmere’s only competitive victory against Fleetwood, although there haven’t been many competitive meetings between the sides.
Of the five league fixtures between the sides in total, 3 have been drawn 0-0, then there is one win each. We’ve met three times in the EFL Trophy over the years, with Fleetwood winning all three fixtures.
So, eight competitive meetings, four wins for Fleetwood, three draws, one win for Tranmere. Hopefully a first win at Highbury is on the cards for Rovers, but what kind of challenge will Fleetwood provide this weekend?
Fleetwood promise
Following Pete Wild’s sacking as Fleetwood manger in January, Fleetwood appointed one of his coaches, Matt Lawlor, as interim manager. Lawlor then led the team to an eight-game unbeaten run, culminating in him being appointed manager on a permanent basis.
As 38, Lawlor is one of the youngest managers in the EFL, but there are some encouraging signs for the Fleetwood faithful. He averaged 1.55 points per game last season and is tracking at 1.21 points per game on average this season – Darrel Clarke is at 1.35 points per game with Tranmere.
It’s at home where Fleetwood are strongest, they’ve lost only once in the league this season in front of their own fans. In fact, they’ve only lost two games at home in all competitions this season – both to the same team; Rochdale. Having triumphed 2-1 when the two teams met in the league at Highbury at the end of September, Rochdale again won 2-1 at Fleetwood last weekend in the FA Cup.
Aside from those two games, no team has come out on top on their patch. Championship outfit Sheffield United were beaten in the EFL Cup before Premier League Champions Arsenal were also beaten in the same competition on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
Ronan Coughlan is Fleetwood’s top scorer so far this season with five league goals (seven in all comps), while veteran striker Ched Evans could also be in line to return from injury for Fleetwood tomorrow as he looks to add to his five goals so far this season. Another attacking threat will be on-loan Fulham youngster Aaron Loupalo-Bi who has three goals to his name.
