Match Report: Rovers Lose First Game…...Again
By Mark Ridgway
August 9 2009
Rovers outpass and often dominate Yeovil Town on the opening day of the new season but still fall to a 2-0 defeat thanks to some poor defendng and what looked like a debatable penalty decision in either half to get John Barnes's reign as Tranmere Manager off to a poor start.
Yeovil T 2 - 0 Tranmere R
Bowditch 23
Tomlin 75
Attendance: 4,349
Referee: Andy Hall (West Midlands)
A poor Rovers performance ended in defeat away at Yeovil Town in John Barnes first game as Tranmere Boss. A goal either side of half-time condemned Rovers to defeat on the opening day, as so often is the case in recent times.
Barnes's first ever competitive starting XI looked like this...
Daniels
Logan, Gunning, Taylor, Cresswell
Shuker, McLaren, Welsh, Mahon
Curran, Gornell
Subs: Collister, Broomes, Gornell, Fraughan, Baker, Macaughley
Rovers started brightly but failed to make the most of their two early corners. The visitors had some nice interchanges but no cutting edge in the opening exchanges as Yeovil struggled to even touch the ball apart from to knock it out for either a throw in or corner for Rovers.
As has been the case so often in pre-season though, the lovely passing game which was great to watch in the opening twenty minutes didn't produce enough chances and it was no surprise when the visitors took the lead after some poor marking at the back from Rovers.
The first goal attempts had come from the hosts when Daniels saved from Bowditch with his legs and was then tested by former white O'Callaghan as his header was tipped over. The second save by Daniels resulted in the corner from which the hosts scored as Dean Bowditch lost his marker and headed in unmarked from a corner.
Daniels then saved from Schofield whilst at the other end the best Rovers had to offer was a blocked shot from the quiet and ineffective Alan Mahon.
Just before half time Ian Thomas-Moore shot wide as Rovers went into the break behind.
Half Time: Yeovil Town 1 - 0 Tranmere Rovers
Rovers first yellow card of the season went to Shaleum Logan when he brought down Bowditch on the edge of the area. Daniels then tipped Schofield's shot over and Logan cleared off the line, as the hosts looked for a second.
However Rovers began to get back into the game with Shuker in particular looking effective for the visitors who saw glancing headers from both Ian Moore and Craig Curran flash just wide of the far post in quick succession.
Rovers had another series of corners which came to nothing as Curran then shot wide from range and headed wide from a Thomas-Moore delivery as Rovers continued to press for an equaliser.
However as with the first goal, the sucker punch came with 15 minutes left when Rovers had again been looking to score for themselves when Aaron Cresswell fouled Mason and the referee gave a penalty despite the fact the defender protesting that the challenge occurred outside the box. Gavin Tomlin tucked away the penalty in off the post and the game was won.
Ryan Fraughan made his Rovers debut immediately after the goal, replacing Alan Mahon. Although he looked lively he could do nothing to change the score line despite two or three excellent crosses which had been lacking from that side for most of the game.
When Gornell came on with three minutes left the game was already lost and many fans will argue the youngster should have been brought on much earlier, especially with Rovers failing in front of goal.
All in all a similar performance to pre-season where the domination in possession was clear to see but with not much cutting edge and a young and relatively inexperienced defence the job was a more difficult.
Add Goodison and even Edds back into the defence from now on and things will look tighter but surely some change is needed upfront for Rovers to start scoring goals.
Full Time: Yeovil Town 2 - 0 Tranmere Rovers
Luke Daniels
Daniels and Shuker were the contenders today for the award but for three world class saves and a commanding performance throughout it has to goto Rovers' young on-loan goalkeeper who kept his side in the game at 1-0.
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Pre-season the general wisdom was that we would be o.k up front but not on yesterday's showing.Moore tries but he really does lack pace and Curran just huffed and puffed but looks slower than when he first made his debut.Kay's goals last year bailed out the lack of strike power upfront but it is worrying to see the lack of pace up-front.Despite the pen(and whether in the area or not it was a rash challenge) Cresswell had a sound game and Logan looked good coming forward and seems to be building an understanding with Shuker.Ash Taylor looked the better of the centre backs.I thought the midfield were disappointing.Mclaren had some neat touches but Welsh seemed to lack fitness and Mahon was inconsistent but had his best period immediately before being substitued.
The goals could be attributed to inexperience and if Goodison has a good season (the if is because he at an age where the legs can go at anytime) then he could provide the old head that guide some of the youngsters. For all his virtues,however I am not sure that he has that sort of leadership.All of the young defenders showed raw promise. The nagging anxiety is that collectively their inexperience will cost us points and their confidence could flag.
Yeovil looked a very ordinary side.The performance was certainly better than the opening game of last season paradoxically this increased the doubts for one was left with the impression that this was,perhaps the sum of the teams potential and that it was not sufficient to trouble one of the also ran teams in this division.
There where some supporters giving stick as soon as we went a goal down.Such a young team really do need whole hearted backing from supporters.Getting on the backs of players will be totally counter-productive
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:09:18:15:05 by DevonExile.
First goal the defence guilty of ball watching, free header, you can't give their best player that amount of space.
At half time I was hopeful that we would get back into the game, the signs were there but unfortunately not to be, the scoreline flattered Yeovil, they were very ordinary which is a bit worrying for us.
Positives- Daniels looks quality, Ash Taylor very solid and some decent skill, logan quick but often caught out of position, goody will sort him out, the passing game and some of the through balls particularly out to Shukes were awesome, thought Shukes had a good game. McClaren some quality passes, Welsh got stuck in.
Negatives- defence all over the place when under pressure, should be sorted with a few more games played, no threat up front, Moore tried hard for no reward almost scoring with a glancing header, Curren dissapointing but will need to gain experience, needs to find space in the box, can we afford to give him time, Mahon very dissapointed, thought he was going to volley one in, sliced it, didn't realy contribute.
Overall more positives than negatives, midfield need to support the strikers more in attack, can't see us scoring many goals if we only ever create half chances, more work on the training ground, JB is the man to do it.
Spoke to a Yeovil fan at the end of the game, he was dissapointed in us, thought our defence was awful and attack ineffective, couldn't argue.
Oh and the pasties were rock hard, think they'd been in the oven since last season, gutted.
Final point, SWA travel a long way to support Rovers, sort of traditional for the manager to acknowledge this at the end of the game, dissapeared quicker than a Ronaldo free kick.