Tranmere Mid-Season Report

As the season edges past it's halfway point, our Match Preview writer Louise Formston has taken time out to write a mid-season report on the season so far and the position Rovers are currently in......

As Tranmere Rovers sit in their lowest league position in their history (12th in the National League), having crashed out of both the FA Cup and the FA Trophy in their first games in each competition this season, I find myself struggling to remember a time when I was proud to support Rovers. 

Being only 22, I haven’t seen much success at Prenton Park.  A brief spell at the top of League One in 2012/2013 where we lost just seven games all season, the 2008/2009 campaign that saw us just miss out on the play-offs, and the 2004 FA Cup replay against Milwall are really my only highlights as a Rovers fan. My other memories include numerous great escapes, a few relegations (including one out of Division One) and some decent away days - no thanks to the results.

I’ve been attending the last few seasons on my own, thanks to work commitments keeping my boyfriend away from the games. H owever, I too bought into the Come Back Stronger mentality and duly purchased another season ticket this year and I’ve even managed to convince a friend that watching Tranmere will be much more relaxing than watching his beloved Liverpool - it was going so well until Klopp turned up!

Like a lot of supporters, I was quite happy with the appointment of Gary Brabin in the summer.  I knew relatively little about him and as such had virtually no expectations for this season, other than we don’t get relegated again.  Brabin had left what must have been a pretty comfortable job at Everton in order to take on the rather less stable managerial role at Rovers - the worst team in the Football League.  He’d done alright at both Cambridge and Luton, slightly worse at Southport but he wasn't there that long during either spell.  I was starting to get quite optimistic about the season ahead especially when signings like James Norwood and Jay Harris started to appear - players proven match winners at this level.  Bring on the first game!

I missed the first two games of the season thanks to being in the States but thanks to the wonder of social media, I was able to celebrate Jay Harris’ wonder strike poolside!  After a 4-1 victory at Gateshead as I recovered from jet lag I was excited to be back at Prenton Park, positivity was everywhere - even a draw at Braintree wasn’t enough to put me off! 

Rovers were back on track with a win over Halifax before Boreham Wood, Altrincham and Kidderminster sent us crashing back to earth.  It’s okay though, it’s only the end of August we’ve got plenty of time to settle the team and rack up those points.  Meanwhile Forest Green were storming ahead at the top of the table.  September came and the team was starting to show what it was capable of - undefeated in six games (the whole of September - including an away trip to Cheltenham).

October is where the problems started.  It started okay, a 4-0 win over Bromley and an away draw to Wrexham before we lost at home to both Eastleigh and Barrow - then the boo boys were back.  It’s worth remembering we lost to Eastleigh after we went down to 10 men and had a penalty saved; I still maintain that was a case of bad luck.  But not to fear, Gary Taylor-Fletcher signed and scored on his debut - all hope was restored.  Or was it?  We’d lost two games in eleven - did we really need to change the squad?

Following GTF’s signing, Steve McNutly arrived at Prenton Park and went straight into the starting line up against Lincoln in the FA Cup.  The game finished in a 0-0 draw and we lost the replay 2-0 after Scott Davies was sent off in the 18th minute and Lincoln were awarded a penalty 10 minutes later (a Steve McNulty handball).  Again, I think you can argue this was simply a case of bad luck.  After all, this was only the fifth game we’d lost all season and it was only the FA Cup - the target for the season was promotion not a Wembley cup final.

Into November we went, there was a sense of nervousness around Prenton Park as Dover came to visit and then promptly left again with all three points thanks to a Ricky Miller strike (after he’d handled the ball as he controlled it).  Lincoln away, again - both GTF and McNulty still being played despite the goals drying up at one end and them being shipped at the other.  This time they only scored one and we came home remembering they’ve still got to visit Prenton Park in the league yet this season.

A James Norwood penalty in the dying moments secured a home win against Guiseley - is our run finally back on track?  Woking put paid to any hope as they put four past our defence.  Promotion was starting to slip away.  Thankfully we were away to Boreham Wood and the nervousness that was spreading around Prenton Park during home games.  A draw down south would probably have been a decent result (especially the clean sheet aspect!), had we not lost 2-1 to Braintree at home just a week later.  Now we’re into December and that brings me to today - a 4-2 loss to Wrexham in the FA Trophy.

Taking out any cup games, we’ve still lost only eight games this season.  By comparison, we’d already lost eight league games by October 11th last season.  A year ago, we’d lost 11 games - five at home and six away. There’s an argument to suggest that from a fan’s perspective our idea of how we’re doing is distorted as the vast majority of us attend only home games. 

Out of our eight losses in the league, five of them have come at home, if you add in Saturday’s loss against Wrexham it starts to feel like all we ever see is losses. I get that it’s difficult to see your team repeatedly outwitted, outplayed and beaten at home over and over again - at 22 it’s all I’ve ever known as a Rovers fan.

Saturday was a cup game against a local rival - anything could happen.  I’ll be the first to admit I had my reservations when I first saw the team but I was pleased to see that a few players were being given a chance - Jake Kirby and Mike Ihiekwe for starters.  Despite an early goal for Wrexham we started brightly, we had all the possession and all the chances but we failed to convert until fantastic work from Maynard and Norwood saw us grab a goal before half time. However by that point Wrexham already had two of their own, having scored with virtually their only two attacks of the half.

Gary Brabin will be looking to Push Rovers Up the Table in 2016

The difference between the sides were clear - Wrexham were ruthless, we were not.  This theme carried on in the second half.  Whilst not quite as bright and fluid as the first half, Rovers continued to have what felt like the lion’s share of possession but again once Wrexham got the ball and straight away Scott Davies was picking it out of the net.  Restart and Repeat.  At 4-1 the crowd was virtually empty, with those Rovers’ fans that remained making their feelings very clear - Brabin Out.  Norwood grabbed a late consolation and that was that.  I was expecting boos at full time, but the ground was strangely quiet - well if you don’t count the cheers coming from the Sheds.

Tonight, I find myself not annoyed that we lost but frustrated that yet again we are failing to make possession count and take our chances when they appear.  I actually thought on the whole, going forwards our play was much much better than it has been, we were linking well, we were creating chances and players were chasing balls down.  Had Mekki scored his one on one, Vaughan had his effort on target and Norwood had just been more alert to a few chances in the first half we could have been going in at half time laughing.

As far as Wrexham were concerned, I thought their best player was Taylor in goal - he made a couple of very important saves in the first half and kept Wrexham ahead.  Had they gone in, the entire game could have been different.  Our defence; Liam Ridehalgh found himself back at left back and on the whole, thought he did very well defensively.  He was unlucky with the first goal - he was the only player to track his man whilst everyone else followed the ball and was dragged out the game.

Sadly an unlucky deflection off the post and onto Liam saw Wrexham take the lead.  But his head didn’t drop, he continued to win balls all afternoon and provided some decent crosses in the attack.  Had we utilised him and Jake Kirby (who seems to have improved since he last played in a Rovers shirt or have we just got worse?) more down that left hand side we may have scored more.  Vaughan at right back continued to impress me today although I do feel he’s a red card waiting to happen thanks to his temper.

He overlaps well and looks up (at last someone who does!).  His only mistakes started to come towards the end of the game when everyone was pushing forwards, and he left some space at the back. Our centre back pairing however continue to worry me.  It is no secret that I don’t like McNulty, he is slow and he takes unnecessary risks.  His signing and inclusion in the team has coincided with a drop in form - now you can argue that’s a coincidence all you like but I really don’t believe it.  He’s a big character, evidenced from his captaincy at Luton, and it’s likely he’s had an influence on the dressing room.  The rest of the defence don’t look confident around him, it’s as if they’re waiting for the big guy to make a mistake and as such no one is working as a unit anymore.

To me the answer is simple, drop McNulty and bring back Sutton - send out the message that nobody is irreplaceable within our side.  Currently, we have no one in the side who is willing to put that foot in, take that yellow card to stop an attack.  Jay Harris attempts to do that, and he has some success with it but it has to be Brabin’s number one target for January.  Our forward play has on the whole been pretty good, and has definitely improved but somehow we have to find a way of getting our strikers scoring.

The balls are not hitting the back of the net often enough.  I’m almost positive it’s a confidence issue; there is no way James Norwood of last season or the season before would be missing the chances he currently is. I also don’t think chanting Andy Mangan’s name (whilst he’s on the bench) after Norwood has just bagged us a second is helping anything.  With Dawson’s injury, another winger is also a priority, but with both Mekki and now Jake Kirby it’s perhaps not quite as urgent as a fighting midfield player.

Overall, do I think this first half of the season has been a failure?  Not really, we’ve only been well beaten twice (Woking and Wrexham) and a number of other games there were signs of a really good team developing.  Yes I would have liked us to be higher up the table at this point, but we’re only in December.  The table has changed many times already and it likely to change several more. I would have liked to have a little run in the FA Cup, maybe got ourselves a TV tie - the money is always nice - but at the same time, extra games can mean extra injuries and we’re struggling as it is.

Until we’re 12 points adrift of the play offs in March, I don’t think we can be worried and I certainly don’t think we can sack a manager who, although it might not feel like it, has seemingly stopped a rot that was tearing the club apart.  The odds were always stacked against us going back up first time, and I am quite okay with the fact we probably won’t do that but I would like us to have a damn good go at it.

My hopes for the next few months? We start to stabilise as a team, I’d take a few draws if it meant we either started to score more or shape up at the back. There’s always one team who mounts a late play off bid - why can’t that be us?