Victory is Vital as Rovers Prepare for Colchester Visit

As Rovers prepare to face Colchester United at Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon, Mark Ridgway gives us his views on the current situation at Prenton Park, prior to what many are calling a 'must-win' game.....

A decent season, scattered with regular slip ups....a fair summary of Tranmere’s season so far, only one side in the top six has left Prenton Park with three points, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Rovers underlining problem is slipping up against those sides around us, only one side out of six below us have lost at Prenton Park so far.

How can this happen?  Rovers on their day can compete with anybody, and had they added consistency to credible victories, we could well be discussing a promotion push.

The truth is the league is as close as ever, there isn’t a great difference between anybody, despite the money differences.  Brighton made few drastic changes in the summer, but transformed their side from relegation battlers to current run away leaders.  

Bournemouth were promoted last season, and are now sitting pretty in the play offs, despite losing their goal machine Brett Pitman to Bristol City.  Likewise Sheffield Wednesday, arguably the biggest club in the league are floating around the bottom half, and lost to Rovers 3-0 just a month ago.

So what does all this mean?  Its makes for excitement and unpredictability, just like what football should be. Nothing like the premier league, where the same names, occupy the top places, year on year.  

In Rovers first few games, they lost 3-0 to Bournemouth, league one new-comers, but beat Peterborough soon after 1-0, also new comers, but obviously from the Championship.

Giving us a taste of what was to come in the rest of the season, few sides have hit consistency, take Brighton out of the equation every side has had ups and down all season.

However Tranmere seem to take it to the extreme. Think back to Saturday 8^th January, home to Walsall and Rovers are dominating the bottom side. 3-1 up and it could have been much more, however a change of mentality and in the last five minutes the visitors score twice and claim a point.

A common trend where late goals have cost points, Rochdale and Brentford both profited one Rovers inability to kill a game.

On Saturday Rovers face Colchester another side who have been up and down all season. Poor form since the turn of the year is ruining their play off push, but since the New Year’s resolutions set in The U’s have claimed four points from Peterborough, then beat high flying Bournemouth.

However conspired to lose against Dagenham, Plymouth and Walsall, three sides that sit below ourselves in the table.

The point of this is to show that there is no given result in this division; we have no divine right to beat the likes of Yeovil or Bristol Rovers, as the 1-0 reverses show.

The lads need to get their heads down and graft, with Oldham following Colchester, that’s two teams on the slide, and the results are there for the taking...we just need to take them.

To avoid the last day tension we had last season, the fans need to get behind the side, and help the team reach the 50+ mark as soon as possible.