Match Preview: Tranmere Rovers v Maidstone United

Another Saturday brings another Rovers game and as Maidstone United make the long trip up from Kent to face Rovers at Prenton Park, Louise once again brings us her Match Preview ahead of tomorrow's game.....

The games have come thick and fast at the start of the season this year as Rovers are already gearing up to play their fifth game of the campaign.  This Saturday sees Maidstone United make their first trip to Prenton Park.

Form Guide:

Tranmere have four wins in four - that’s all you need to know.

Maidstone come to Prenton Park having made a very decent start to life in the National League.  The newly promoted Stones sit 7th in the table having won two, drawn one and lost one.  Maidstone’s debut in the National league saw them draw with York before they lost to Aldershot.  However Maidstone’s form picked up, they beat Chester 3-1 before beating Braintree during the week.  So they’re in a great position to end Rovers’ great run.

Injuries and Suspensions:

Steve Jennings picked up another booking in midweek and it’s looking like he’ll be suspended by September.  Liam Ridehalgh made the bench in Rovers game against Boreham Wood so it’s looking like he is over the knock he picked up against Barrow.

For Maidstone, defender Callum Driver will be missing after he suffered an ankle injury.

The Opposition Dugout:

Taking his seat across from Gary Brabin on Saturday will be Jay Saunders.  Saunders was appointed as caretaker manager back in 2010 whilst still playing in the starting XI however he was unable to save Maidstone from relegation.

Since then, Saunders has overseen Maidstone’s rise to the National League, including a qualification for the FA Cup First Round Proper in 2014 where they beat Stevenage (who were in League Two at the time) before they lost to Wrexham in the Second Round. Saunders is confident ahead of Saturday’s game telling his local paper that Maidstone don’t fear Rovers and are looking forward to the game - so here’s another one treating Prenton Park like Wembley then.

Lois Maynard has started the season in good form

The Squad:

Within Maidstone’s squad I can honestly say there were no names that I recognised.  A bit of research and I discovered midfielder Ben Greenhalgh won a Sky competition that earned him a 6 month contract at Inter Milan in 2010. He was with the Italian giants for 18 months learning his trade before returning to England.

Goalkeeper Lee Worgan is an English-born Welshman who has had a brief spell at Wimbledon in his very early career. Current top scorer for Maidstone is Bobby-Joe Taylor. The former Cambridge United player has three so far this season, including both Maidstone’s goals from midweek against Braintree.

Former players who featured for The Stones include Manchester United’s Chris Smalling as well as former Chelsea player Jon Harley.

Around the League:

Bromley vs Gateshead:  After putting six past York in the week, Gateshead travel to Bromley as they aim to close the gap between themselves and Rovers.

Lincoln City vs Southport:  Tranmere’s pre-season promotion rivals will play host to Rovers’ next opponents this weekend.  Here’s hoping Southport have a great weekend this weekend, but fail to remember where their goal is the following Saturday.

Wrexham vs Eastleigh: Wrexham have had a mixed start to their season but this Saturday will see them welcome Eastleigh to the Racecourse. Eastleigh sacked manager Chris Todd in the week but have already installed Ronnie Moore as the man in charge.

My Starting XI:

Davies

Vaughan          McNulty          Ihiekwe            Hughes

  Maynard

       Harris              S. Jennings

C. Jennings                                                     Norwood

 Cook

This is a case of if it ain’t broke.  Whilst the players have played a lot the last few weeks with games every Saturday and Tuesday, there’s now a seven day break until Southport so they might as well play again together!  Connor Jennings got his first goal of the season for Rovers so will hopefully be looking for more on Saturday whilst James Norwood has often appeared off the pace in games but has always shown up with the goals when needed.  Another clean sheet for Davies and the defence so they’ll stay the same with Hughes being a surprisingly good left back!

Score Prediction?

2-1 Rovers - I think this will be much like the game against Eastleigh, Maidstone will make their presence known but we have enough within to see them off.