Holmes Assisted Own Goal Earns Rovers a Draw

A bright start from Rovers and an own goal helped by Danny Holmes was enough to earn Rovers a draw at home to play-off chasing Brentford in NPower League One on Saturday afternoon.......

Tranmere R  2 - 2  Brentford

                             Martin Devaney 4                                Gary Alexander 22

                             Harlee Dean 55                                    Clayton Donaldson 32 

Attendance: 4,432

Tranmere and Brentford played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at a bitterly cold Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon.

An own goal from Brentford’s Harlee Dean ensured the points were shared after he converted a Danny Holmes cross.

Martin Devaney had earlier given Tranmere the lead early on with his first goal for the club, however Gary Alexander and Clayton Donaldson helped turn the tables before Dean found his own net.

The performance was a spirited one from Rovers and they could have won it with a bit more luck and quality in front of goal.

Rovers started the better of the sides and Mustafa Tiryaki forced the Bee’s keeper Richard Lee into an early save, but he could do nothing moments later when on four minutes Jose Baxter broke down the right and clipped in an inviting cross for Martin Devaney to hammer in his first for the club with a powerful volley.

Tranmere stopper Paul Rachubka did well to deny Gary Alexander soon after, before Tiryaki tested Lee with a swerving drive from range.

Soft home defending however gave the London outfit a route back into the game, Clayton Donaldson’s cross wasn’t dealt with and Gary Alexander’s effort snuck underneath Rachubka to level the scores.

Ten minutes later and Brentford had completed the turnaround as Alexander laid off to Clayton Donaldson who curled a stunning effort into the top corner from 25 yards.

Rovers huffed and puffed but saw midfielder Joss Labadie depart with an injury before half time.

Half-Time: Tranmere Rovers 1 - 2 Brentford

After the break, Donaldson could have added to the lead, but was denied by Rachubka in the first minute of the second half.

On 55 minutes though Tranmere levelled in somewhat fortunate circumstances when Baxter fed Danny Holmes on the right and his dangerous cross was turned into his own net by Bee’s Harlee Dean.

The game was now very much alive and could have gone either way; Rachubka did well to again deny Donaldson with his legs.

With nine minutes left Baxter did well to block Dean’s volley on the goal line, to keep the sides level and the game continued in end to end fashion, with both sides wanting to win it, in the end it was probably a fair result.

Rovers can take great heart from this display, but must now start putting wins on the board, with Jose Baxter returning to Everton goals will become an even bigger problem, so bringing in new firepower will be a necessity.  

Full-Time: Tranmere Rovers 2 - 2 Brentford