Tranmere Rovers scored two late goals to pull off another impressive comeback, picking up all three points with a 2-1 victory over Burton Albion at Prenton Park.
While it would be nice to score the first goal and have a nice comfortable afternoon, this team has shown fantastic resilience to pull themselves back from negative positions in the past few weeks.
It all adds to the excitement! And shows the team spirit, as well as the grit and determination of the side to keep going until the very last minute.
Micky Mellon named an unchanged starting XI from Tuesday’s 2-2 draw versus Peterborough United, the only change to the matchday squad saw recent signing Neil Danns named among the substitutes.
After that good performance in midweek against Posh, Rovers began brightly and forced a number of early attacking situations. Unfortunately, though, the final ball or finish failed to test the Burton goalkeeper.
Midway through the first half, Kieron Morris went agonisingly close. The former Walsall winger cut inside onto his favoured left foot and struck a low effort which went inches the wrong side of the near post with the goalkeeper scrambling to get across.
At the other end, Joe Sbarra fired wide for The Brewers in what was a fairly evenly contested first half.
Moments before the break, David Perkins picked up what looked like a hamstring injury as he burst forward on a counter attack.
He went down straight away and limped off to be replaced by debutant Danns.
There was a further alteration to Tranmere’s team at the beginning of the second half, with Cameron Borthwick-Jackson also coming on for his Rovers debut, replacing George Ray.
The visitors began to look more of a threat in the second period, although Scott Davies was kept fairly quiet. A dangerous ball flew across the face of the Rovers six yard box before being cleared away, as the Brewers began to ramp up some pressure in the Tranmere half.
Ollie Banks attempted another spectacular goal after his stunner on Tuesday night. The midfielder tried his luck from distance, this one more of a daisy-cutter and Kieran O’Hara in the Burton goal gathered the ball at the second attempt.
Davies had to show some fancy footwork on his own goal line to get out of a bit of trouble following a dangerous back pass, the Rovers number one side stepping the onrushing attacker before clearing his lines.
With 25 minutes remaining, Borthwick-Jackson conceded a penalty with a foul inside the area. Former Tranmere man Lucas Akins stepped up, and cool as you like, wrong-footed Davies to give Burton the lead.
The away side continue to threaten and Davies was at his best to make a double save soon after, denying first Colin Daniel before a superb reaction stop prevented Ryan Edwards with the follow up.
With the clock running down, Rovers pressed for an equaliser with Paul Mullin at the forefront of things, firstly heading over from a Corey Blackett-Taylor cross before blazing a shot over the crossbar from 20 yards.
With the stoppage time board going up and showing five minutes, there was still hope that Tranmere could get something out of the game.
The hosts had a free-kick 25 yards out. Ollie Banks stepped up and curled a delightful effort into the bottom right corner of O’Hara’s net to send Prenton Park into delirium.
There was still time for more drama, and four minutes into injury time, Rovers got themselves a winner.
A deep cross from the right was met by Neil Danns leaping the highest at the back post. His effort was destined for the back of the net, but striker Stefan Payne was on hand to make sure and complete another fantastic comeback.
There was no time for Burton to respond, and so Tranmere picked up only their second victory of the season in incredible style.
The never say die attitude among this group is unbelievable and they never know when they are beaten. It makes for great entertainment, although a few additional grey hairs have started to appear since the season got back underway!
