Tranmere Rovers picked up a vitally important three points by beating AFC Wimbledon 1-0 at Prenton Park courtesy of a Rushian Hepburn-Murphy first half strike.
It was a must-win game for Micky Mellon’s side, against another team struggling towards the bottom of the League One table, and win it they did with a gutsy hardworking display.
It wasn’t pretty at times, understandably so given the conditions, with the pitch suffering the impact of the recent heavy rainfall.
Rovers played the conditions really well in the first 45 minutes, playing on the front foot and looking a constant threat with Hepburn-Murphy at the heart of most of the attacking plays.
Chances aplenty were created by the home side before they finally took the lead through the ever-dangerous Hepburn-Murphy.
A set piece wasn’t cleared by the Dons defence, Connor Jennings showed a clever bit of skill to flick the ball over a defender before his shot was saved, with the Aston Villa loanee the sharpest to the loose ball to turn just over the line.
Further opportunities came and went as Rovers went in at the break a goal to the good but it could have been so much more.
The visitors stepped up their play after the break and Tranmere needed to show resilience to keep their first clean sheet in 10 matches.
The Rovers rearguard rode their luck at times with a few near misses and balls flying across the six yard box, but they also defended manfully at times too, standing strong and keeping the visitors’ threat at bay.
At the other end, there were good chances to extend the lead, but we settled for the one goal and taking all three points.
So, a 1-0 victory, just what the doctor ordered. It wasn’t pretty, it was tough going at times in difficult conditions but the team showed good character to grit it out and ensure a must-win game was won.
It draws us back level on points with AFC and ensures that the Dons haven’t pulled clear of us at the bottom of League One.
With the busy Christmas fixtures coming up, that win should be the shot in the arm the lads need and hopefully it can kickstart a good run of results in the coming weeks as we look to climb the table and away from the dreaded drop-zone.