Tranmere Suffer Rare Home Defeat

By

Tranmere Rovers were left to rue missed chances as they suffered home defeat for the first time since February 5th against Forest Green Rovers.

The visitors secured a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Junior Mondal strike at the beginning of the second half to end Tranmere’s six-match winning run on home turf.

League Two’s leading goalscorer James Norwood was declared fit for Micky Mellon’s side after suffering from a groin injury, giving a pre-match boost to the hosts.

It was a good start from Tranmere too, as shortly after kick-off, neat interplay around the edge of the penalty area saw Connor Jennings burst down on goal but his curling effort from a narrow angle didn’t quite curl enough to creep in at the far post.

Tranmere got into some good positions but the final ball was lacking before they were dealt a further injury blow.

Following recent injuries to Luke McCullough and David Perkins, central defender Mark Ellis was the latest player headed for the treatment table, picking up what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

The next noteworthy action came from Tranmere’s left back Zoumana Bakayogo. He won the ball back on the edge of his own penalty area and zoomed (pardon the pun) forward, skipping past three challenges but he was unable to match the magnificent run with a finish as he dragged his shot weakly wide of the target.

The teams went in at the break deadlocked at 0-0 but it only took two minutes of the second half before a goal came and it went the way of the visitors.

Too much time and space was allowed for the Forest Green attackers, with a low cross from the left being converted by Junior Mondal, his finish superbly placed in the top corner of the net.

Scott Davies made a smart save to deny Forest Green substitute Dayle Grubb soon after before Tranmere began to enjoy the lion’s share of possession and push for an equaliser.

Jay Harris forced a save from Forest Green goalkeeper James Montgomery with a shot from 20 yards, before the visiting shot-stopper denied Paul Mullin. The Tranmere substitute fired in an overhead kick but his effort was met with an equally acrobatic save with Harris firing into the side netting from the rebound.

Jennings fired over from 25 yards before Mullin forced another good save from Montgomery, this time from a free-kick, as the hosts mounted more pressure on the visiting goal.

Mullin fired another shot narrowly over the crossbar with the final goalscoring opportunity of the game.

It wasn’t to be for Tranmere, who fall a couple of points further off the automatic promotion places. But we remain fantastically placed in the play-off zone with three games to go. They’re three very tricky games, but if you’ve learned anything about this Tranmere team, they’ll do everything possible to secure the season extends into the play-offs in a bid to achieve a double promotion.

You may also like

Hot News