Tranmere stopped the rot after the 5-2 defeat on New Years Day by securing a 1-1 draw away at Barrow with a fairly dominant performance.
Rovers made three changes from the team that started at Fylde, most notably seeing a debut for goalkeeper Rhys Taylor who arrived on loan from the Lancashire club as cover for the injured Scott Davies.
Full-back Eddie Clarke was rightly recalled to the starting eleven in place of Liam Ridehalgh, while Ollie Banks was replaced in midfield by Jay Harris after he returned to Oldham.
Without going in to a sizeable match report, the opening minutes of this game summed up Tranmere’s start to 2018. Just four minutes in, Steve McNulty looked to pump the ball clear in his own box but had the ball nicked away before he could do so. Unfortunately, the skipper continued to follow through with his kicking action, bringing a Barrow forward down.
The penalty was converted past Taylor – not the start he wanted to his Tranmere career.
After a little bit of steadying the ship, Rovers got in to the game and were fairly dominant. Chances were missed as is customary, and as the half entered its closing stages, the home team came back to the fore. It was 1-0 at half-time.
Rovers had the better of things in the second half, with most chances falling to James Norwood. The talking point of the second half appeared to be a serious looking injury for Adam Buxton – 2018 doing its best to extinguish Tranmere’s promotion hopes.
There was a lengthy stoppage while Buxton was stretchered off with what looked to be a back or neck injury. The result was nine minutes of stoppage time.
Rovers continued to press, and Norwood finally did find the net. Substitute Jake Kirby with a lovely bit of quality out wide, his cross poked home by Norwood.
Connor Jennings very nearly won the game as the match approached the 100th minute, but his effort went wide of the target.
The positivity of Norwood’s leveller was added to with the news that Buxton was walking around with no apparent problem at full-time. Fingers crossed that he will be fine.
Norwood joins Andy Cook on top scorer with 11 goals. See all of the Tranmere player stats for this season.
