Tranmere Vs Chesterfield Match Preview

By Total Tranmere
August 4 2011

Total Tranmere provides you with all the news ahead of Saturdays season opener where newly promoted Chesterfield will be the visitors to Prenton Park.....

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This Saturday Tranmere Rovers kick off their League One campaign by welcoming newly promoted Chesterfield to Prenton Park.

After a strong finish to pre-season and with Rovers boss Les Parry targeting a place in the Top Six come May, Tranmere will be keen to start off their season in style with three points at Prenton Park, however, this won't be an easy game against a side who won the League Two title last season under former Oldham boss John Sheridan.

Ahead of the game, Total Tranmere looks to bring you all the information you need to know to help you through the match.

Chesterfield Factfile:

Ground: B2Net Stadium

Formed: 1867

Nickname: The Spireites

Manager: John Sheridan

League Finish 2011/12: 1st (League Two)

Kit Colours: Blue shirt, white shorts and white socks (home), White shirt, blue shorts and white socks (away) and all red shirt, shorts and socks (third)

Previous Meetings:

The last time these two sides met was at Chesterfield's old ground, Saltergate, during the 2007/08 season when Rovers travelled to Derbyshire to take on the Spirites in the first round of the F.A. Cup.

Despite being backed by over 1,100 fans after the club made coach travel to the game free, Tranmere went 1-0 down in the first half as prolific striker Jack Lester netted just before the half hour mark with the first shot of the game, turning freely in side the box before flicking the ball past Danny Coyne in the Tranmere goal.

Tranmere hit back almost immediately though, with Chris Greenacre firing into the back of the net from the penalty spot after a foul just in side the box on winger Chris Shuker.

Shuker and Greenacre had chances for Tranmere, whilst Lester, Robinson and Fletcher came close at the other end for Chesterfield before with only six minutes left, Rovers took the lead for the first time in the match as Antony Kay vollied home Paul McLaren's perfect corner.

Moment later however, Chesterfield were awarded a penalty of their own but they were to be thwarted in their attempts for a late equaliser as Danny Coyne superbly saved Lester's powerful spot kick, diving low to his right to make a fabulous save.

Craig Curran was sent off for Tranmere late on after picking up his second yellow card for a poor tackle on the half way line, but Rovers managed to hang on and claim their place in Round Two of the tournament, where they would come up against Bradford City.

Vital Stats:

Tranmere Rovers haven't won their opening game of the season since a 1-0 win over Oldham in August 2006, losing all four opening day games since

Rovers have picked up five successive wins in their last five games against Chesterfield

The Prenton Park outfit have also lost just one of their last eleven games against the Derbyshire side

In 49 meetings between the two sides at Prenton Park, Tranmere have picked up 25 wins, losing on just fifteen occasions

Tranmere have kept five clean sheets in six August meetings against Chesterfield

On This Day:

2005: Tranmere's only previous game on August 6th came against Swansea City in the first competitive game at the brand new Liberty Stadium. Rovers lost the game 1-0 thanks to a goal from Adebayo Akinfenwa whilst John Achterberg also saved a penalty for Tranmere.

The Form Book:

With Les Parry insisting that he was focused on picking up fitness before results early on in pre-season, Tranmere's preparation for the 2011/12 campaign only really got going towards the end of their list of friendlies.

They started pre-season with a 1-0 defeat to Chester City before drawing 3-3 with Colwyn Bay and then losing 2-1 to Prestatyn Town.

They followed these results with a 2-1 win over Marine, Lucas Akins and Andy Robinson on target, before putting in a shoddy performance as an injury hit side lost 2-0 to Blue Square North side Altrincham.

After that defeat, however, their results and performances started to lift as Les Parry started to name a close to full strength side in each game, as Rovers firstly drew 1-1 with Manchester United before beating Shrewsbury Town 2-0, Akins and Weir on the score sheet, and then finishing their list of friendlies with a 2-0 victory over Liverpool, new signing David Buchanan and trialist Mustafa Tiryaki netting this time round.

Chesterfield meanwhile have enjoyed a very positive pre-season, suffering just one loss which came against Championship side Hull City (2-0).

They started their friendly fixtures with three successive wins, defeating three Non League sides, Alfreton Town (4-1), Matlock Town (3-1) and Staveley MW (2-1), before they first came up against league opposition, Macclesfield Town, with whom they drew 1-1.

In their only other pre-season friendly, the Spirites picked up a very good 2-2 draw with Championship side Coventry City at the B2Net stadium.

Since winning promotion to League One, John Sheridan has (at the time of writing) added just three players to his squad, signing Mark Randall from Arsenal, Greg Fleming from Oldham and Nathan Smith from Yeovil, whilst Craig Davies, Ian Breckin (a relation of former Tranmere assistant manager John) and Shane Redmond have left the club.

Double Hit:

Over the last few years, there have been a number of former Rovers players who have also represented Chesterfield, including Wayne Allison, Roy McFarkand and Shane Nicholson.

Another such figure is Paul Hall, who joined Chesterfield in 2005 after Tranmere Rovers refused to offer him a two year contract.

Manchester born Jamaican international Hall spent 18 years as a professional in English football, starting his career in 1990 with Torquay and moving to Tranmere in 2004 via Portsmouth, Coventry, Bury, Sheffield United, Walsall (x2) and Rushden.

He may have only played for Brian Little’s side for one full season after arriving in March on a free transfer, but he quickly made himself a popular player at the club, netting 14 goals in 63 appearances from the right wing.

However, after failing to sign a new contract with Rovers, he joined Chesterfield and quickly became a fans favourite at Saltergate too as he netted 21 goals in 101 games over two years with the club.

He rejoined Walsall in 2007 after leaving the Spirites and the team up once again with Brian Little, this time at Wrexham, in 2008 before retiring from the English game having played 745 games and netted 125 goals.

One To Watch:

The undoubted one to watch for Chesterfield is striker Jack Lester, who despite passing the 35 year age mark continues to bang the goals in for his club, netting 17 times for the Spirites last season.

A real fox in the box type player, Lester started his career at Grimsby before moving to Nottingham Forest in 2000 for £300,000.

He struggled to hold down a regular first team starting role with the Tricky Trees however, and having netted 24 times for the club over a three year spell, he joined Sheffield United on a free transfer.

One year, sixteen goals and 50 appearances later however, Forest decided they’d made a mistake and resigned Lester for £50,000.

Second time around however, he struggled even more to get in the starting XI for the City Ground club, with 40 of his 98 appearances coming from the substitutes bench.

After a further three years with Forest which yielded fourteen goals, he joined Chesterfield on a free transfer and has not looked back since, with the club proving to be his most successful hunting ground since turning professional.

Over four years with the club, the 35-year old, who wears the number 14 shirt for the club, has netted 79 goals in 156 appearances.

Around League One:

The League One 2011/12 season kicks off this Saturday, with all 24 sides in action on Saturday afternoon:

Brentford vs. Yeovil
Carlisle vs. Notts County
Charlton vs. Bournemouth
Huddersfield vs. Bury
MK Dons vs. Hartlepool
Oldham vs. Sheffield United
Preston vs. Colchester
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Rochdale
Stevenage vs. Exeter
Tranmere vs. Chesterfield
Walsall vs. Leyton Orient
Wycombe vs. Scunthorpe

Team News:

After breaking his leg towards the end of last season, Enoch Showunmi is yet to fully recover and is a huge doubt for Rovers in this game after missing the friendly against Liverpool on Tuesday.

Otherwise, however, Tranmere should have a fully fit squad for this opening day fixture, with Martin Devaney and Owain Fon Williams set to start their first games for the club, whilst David Buchanan could also make his Rovers debut.

Jones’ Prediction: Tranmere 3-1 Chesterfield

I think Tranmere can really start the season in style after a positive end to their pre-season friendlies

With Andy Robinson looking fitter and sharper than ever before, Adam McGurk now more experienced and full of confidence as he is set to start the season as one of Rovers’ first choice players and with Martin Devaney now also added to the squad as well, Tranmere really have a squad capable of really threatening teams on the attack and hopefully they’ll show that this Saturday.

It’s important Tranmere get a strong start to the season as they really look to improve on last season’s finish, and if they hit the ground running then they really should be capable of that, as, after all, they had a dire start to the 2010/11 season, failing to win any of their league games in August.

Tranmere Vs Chesterfield Match Preview

Posted by: Total Tranmere (IP Logged)

Date: 04/08/2011 17:38

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:08:07:15:13:32 by Deadly Submarine.