Single Goal Enough as Rovers See Off Latics

A goal in the first half from Jose Baxter was enough to see Rovers beat Oldham Athletic in NPower League One and move back into the top half of the table in the process......

Tranmere R 1 - 0 Oldham Ath

                         Jose Baxter 18

Jose Baxter scored the only goal of the game as Tranmere saw off rivals Oldham Atheltic 1-0 at Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon.

The on-loan Everton man did see his shot deflect in off Enoch Showunmi, so both will want to claim it as Rovers moved back into the top half of the table.

Les Parry made four changes to the side that beat Accrington in the JPT in midweek with Robbie Weir, David Raven, Enoch Showunmi and Adam McGurk coming in to replace Joss Labadie, Michael Kay, Mustafa Tiryaki and Zoom Bakayogo as Rovers lined up as follows....

Fon Williams

Raven  Goodison  Taylor  Buchanan

Akins  Welsh  Baxter  Weir  McGurk

Showunmi

Rovers started the brighter side, and their first real chance came when David Raven fired harmlessly over from the edge of the box.

With the next meaningful attack Rovers took the lead, an impressive passing move saw John Welsh send Lucas Akins through down the right. He cut back for Jose Baxter to fire a home via a useful deflection off Enoch Showunmi.

The home side continued to dominate and John Welsh volleyed wide on the half hour mark.  Oldham offered little, with Sefki Kuqi coming closest with a drive from 25 yards going just over.

During the half time interview Chaddy the owl outpaced Rover the dog, along with Pudsy and Nemo as the fancy dress day appeared to be a success.

Straight after the interval Adam McGurk headed onto the top of the bar from an Akins cross, before the same man shot over after cutting inside on his right.

Showunmi outpaced Mvoto on the hour mark and tested Cisak, before Baxter volleyed wide with a sweetly struck effort.

Kuqi was the main threat for the Latics, and drilled over from range on 65 minutes before Robbie Weir had an effort saved by Cisak and then substitute Matty Smith fired over for the visitors.

Kuqi had an effort put behind by Ash Taylor, before Mvoto headed wide from the resulting corner.  Despite hints of Oldham pressure, Rovers saw out the win comfortably for an important three points.

Jose Baxter

I felt Jose was involved in everything good about Rovers today, turned defence into attack in an instance and looks a real class act including weighing in with yet another goal.