That’s more like it!

[belton rover]

A long way to go, I know, but that was the most McCann like performance I’ve seen this season.
Yes, we rode our luck a bit and yes, we have weaknesses, but I’ve come away buzzing. I loved that we were pressing at 2:1.

We won’t be in a relegation dogfight.

Next season’s build up started today.

[BillyStubbsTears]

McCann called the tactics just right today. They gave us space in midfield and first time for weeks we broke fast and got behind them.

[Filo]

A hard working win, and I reckon we’re almost over the line as regards fear of relegation

[monkeytennis]

Fabulous to see a proper battle for the points, and a team who looked like they really wanted the win.

[Padge_DRFC]

It was generally a decent game from both teams.

Win on Tuesday and we're potentially closer to the play offs than relegation. Neither are going to happen. Sutton are useless. No chance they get 11 more points than us this season

[roversdude]

Great win against a good team. There will be some posters missing tonight

[RoversInSpain]

Well done to all the team today. First half pretty even with Rovers doing well. Fantastic cross in from Adeluken (who played very well). Joe smart header. Olowu won his battles and despite not being a fan I thought he had one of his most solid 45 mins. Then he gets injured.
Tranmere looked like they’d had a rollicking at HT and came out with purpose. They looked stronger physically and scored unsurprisingly. But great ball through the middle and Adelukin keeps calm 2-1! Apart from a lucky escape and a daft goalkeeping clearance, Rovers held firm and looked lively and perhaps should have got a 3rd
Super 3 points - phew!

[Campsall rover]

We looked like a team on a mission today.
About time. Set the bar today. If we maintain that level of work rate from all 11 on the pitch relegation will be something that is not going to be even mentioned again.

As said not perfect and we can still improve but yes I am also buzzing after that today.
Almost forgotten what a win feels like.

[Scooter]

Loads better today. Solid performance from most of the team. Impressed with Craig today

[Chris Black come back]

Like our new keeper.

[Branton Red]

An entertaining (especially second half), competitive game.

Two very good goals - in fact 3 to be fair.

Great to see a win.

Thoroughly enjoyed the match.

More of the same please.

[bigbadjack]

He nearly ballsed it up at the end though

[Chris Black come back]

He nearly ballsed it up at the end though

Didn’t he!

[Filo]

He nearly ballsed it up at the end though

When he caught the ball just before that, there was no one in the Tranmere half, their keeper was out near the touchline, he had the chance to kick it long down the middle and score, instead he nearly cost us a goal, massive upgrade on the two keepers we have though

[GazLaz]

McCann called the tactics just right today. They gave us space in midfield and first time for weeks we broke fast and got behind them.

I say it every week. Having less of the ball helps us. Sometime games play out to the advantage of one side naturally and that is possibly what happened today. Unlikely we tried to have less of the ball at home. Without Close and Westbrooke we will always have less possession.

[drfcsteve]

I had it as 1-2 so pleased I was wrong! Makes a difference having a competent goalkeeper and centre half in the team.

[ncRover]

Craig and Bailey were brilliant in midfield. Both proved me wrong in there.

Waters had some poor touches but he is reliable off the ball and the shape was so much better.

Thought Jack Senior was magnificent and had their best player to deal with.

Olowu was much improved. Anderson and Wood was nail biting with those balls in behind! Hopefully J.O. is ok, he managed to play on for a bit so can’t be too bad.

Sterry was a bit dodgy for the goal but he was left 1v1 by the others again.

Ironside back to his best and Adelakun is that bit of attacking quality and intelligence we’ve been missing.

Thoroughly entertaining game.

[dickos1]

Craig is going to be some player

[drfchound]

All our lads gave 100% effortoday (including the drummer in the south stand who never stopped all game) but Tranmere were the better team overall.
Aptor (number 25) is some player and ran us ragged in the first half.
However, we battled through.
Good performances from everyone but special mentions to Wood, Olowu, Craig, Senior and Ironside.
The new keeper looks competent but nearly had kicks charged down a couple of time before the near fatal one at the end.
Great goal celebration by Adulaken.
A good game to watch and made even better by the other four teams in our mini league losing.
A song suggestion for the keeper ?
Ooh aah
Ooh aah
Ooh aah
Lo Tatula
Ooh aah
Lo Tatula
To the French National anthem tune ( Ala Cantona ).

[BillyStubbsTears]

McCann called the tactics just right today. They gave us space in midfield and first time for weeks we broke fast and got behind them.

I say it every week. Having less of the ball helps us. Sometime games play out to the advantage of one side naturally and that is possibly what happened today. Unlikely we tried to have less of the ball at home. Without Close and Westbrooke we will always have less possession.

Feels like there's a bit more to it than that.

We have struggled badly against teams who play an aggressive press, unless both Close and Westbrooke are in the side. With them, we've been able to play quickly, draw the press and get behind it.

Without them, we end up plodding keeping the ball cautiously in front of the opposition or playing speculative balls up to Ironside with his back to goal

Big difference today was that we came up against a side who didn't press us hard in the middle of the park. Which meant Craig and Bailey could pick quick passes forward and put pressure on their defence, playing in our players running through the defence.

That was as open a game as you're ever going to see in this division.

Good performance and good win, but it doesn't solve the core problem we have against most sides in the division who DO press aggressively. That's what we have to sort out for next season. We need a squad that can contend with that while missing one or two key players.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

A spirited performance, and that's all we want as a 'non negotiable'. Very naive at times losing possession in bad areas through dithering when simple passes were on.

Keeper and Wood, plus Senior who shows the right stuff, defending manfully at times, plus Sterry made to timely interventions too.

Even if it's not pretty, just swinging the balance, conceding on less and scoring one more will do.

Bit of a maverick Adelikun, sometimes sloppy, sometimes very clever. Very cool finish with that rare sight of making a great run, to nick it around the defender and then the keeper. Very composed just when we needed it.

Anderson played his part too, slotting in and doing the basics well.

Spurs lad. Did ok. A couple of mistakes and hopefully he'll learn but he needs a mentor in there to help his decision making.

[Arsenal Of The North]

Enjoyable game, Tranmere are a good team and you can see why they have had an upturn in form recently.

I wasn’t to bothered about bringing a new keeper in, in January, but I’ve now been proven that I was wrong, he’s a hell of a keeper and brings reassurance (mostly) to the back 5.

Woods was a steady head and a leader we have been lacking most of the season

Craig had a hell of a game, great work effort and Bailey just ticked over nicely.

As for waters, what a hell of a game he had, ran his back side off!

I don’t know how molly keeps getting 90 minutes, good work effort running up and down, but what does he offer as an attacking threat. He would have been the first player I subbed

[Upton Rover]

The best keeper this season by far, this gives the whole team more confidence, a decent win, now we need to step up a gear and show that we can put a winning run together

[Campsall rover]

Having this keeper gives the defence more confidence, that stands out to me.
He is a talker, never stopped talking to his defenders throughout the game. This is something that Louis Jones and to some extent Ian Lawlor do not do.
He is very decisive at coming out to collect balls into the box.
His starting position is so much better than Louis.

If we had this guy in goal all season and Richard Wood starting all season we would probably be not far from a play off spot right now if not in one.
Think we would be a least 15 points better off.

[In the box]

A long way to go, I know, but that was the most McCann like performance I’ve seen this season.
Yes, we rode our luck a bit and yes, we have weaknesses, but I’ve come away buzzing. I loved that we were pressing at 2:1.

We won’t be in a relegation dogfight.

Next season’s build up started today.

We may well no go down , yet it’s hard understand why performances vary each game. Ultimately it’s about results and performances second, but if you continue to play poor then that usually effects the end result . How Mcann sorts this ineffective squad out isn’t going to be easy with most on contracts beyond next season . Enjoyed today as it lifts us away from the dregs but I just hope that we’ve  bottomed our poor performances as I couldn’t sit through another season like this .

[scawsby steve]

Having this keeper gives the defence more confidence, that stands out to me.
He is a talker, never stopped talking to his defenders throughout the game. This is something that Louis Jones and to some extent Ian Lawlor do not do.
He is very decisive at coming out to collect balls into the box.
His starting position is so much better than Louis.

If we had this guy in goal all season and Richard Wood starting all season we would probably be not far from a play off spot right now if not in one.
Think we would be a least 15 points better off.

So 2 players can almost get us promoted?

Bloody hell, it sounds like we've got Harry Gregg and Rob Jones back, and the rest of the team don't matter.

[Barmby Rover]

The New year signings have come up trumps today, hopefully they will carry on doing so. The really good news is that Westbrook is back in training, I thought he was out for the season. That gives us a lot more heart, a winger who can cross a ball, a goalkeeper who can catch a ball, and a young midfielder willing to battle. Well done GM.

[Padge_DRFC]

Waters needs to work on his first touch.

[Campsall rover]

Having this keeper gives the defence more confidence, that stands out to me.
He is a talker, never stopped talking to his defenders throughout the game. This is something that Louis Jones and to some extent Ian Lawlor do not do.
He is very decisive at coming out to collect balls into the box.
His starting position is so much better than Louis.

If we had this guy in goal all season and Richard Wood starting all season we would probably be not far from a play off spot right now if not in one.
Think we would be a least 15 points better off.

So 2 players can almost get us promoted?

Bloody hell, it sounds like we've got Harry Gregg and Rob Jones back, and the rest of the team don't matter.

So you don’t think we could have got another 15 points with a good keeper and an experienced leader at centre back in 30 games.  That’s just winning 5 games that we lost or winning 3 that we drew and winning 3 that we lost.
Of course the whole team matter but how many goals would we have not conceded SS with these 2 players in the team all season.
We will never know of course but they would undoubtedly have made a huge difference.

[danumdon]

Enjoyable game today, its always a good watch when a team like Tranmere give you time and space to play and we didn't need a second invitation. But for the first quarter of each half i think we shaded it, with a bit more composure we could of made it safe much earlier. The move on the right first half when Adelakun went for the near post shot instead of squaring to two players running in was a missed opportunity to finish a great move.

They came at us early in the second half and we creaked enough to let them get level (some poor defending from Anderson in the lead up to their goal) Up to Alowu coming off the defence was strong and looked composed for the first time in a very long time, they all played very well, Senior gets better with games and kept a very tight hold of their best player who was everything we wished Moly would be. Wood will not have an easier afternoon but he marshalled the line well.

The midfield was missing key players but the effort they applied made a very big difference, Bailey was quietly effective in shutting down attacks and Craig grew very well into the game after his slow start, the attacking impulse was aided massively by Adelakun who had some glorious ball control tempered with some clumsiness but he stuck to it, and his assist and goal were very well worked. Waters and Moly put plenty of effort into the game but a lack of end product, especially from Moly was limiting.

Last but not least we have a masterclass of the Ironside type, its a great shame that a striker like Miller has been out all season as his type playing close next to a rampaging Ironside would of prospered greatly this season, his worth to the team at the particular time is priceless (can you imagine where we would be now without him) If he ever gets his equal quota from a ref he would be some player to have, but his contribution today was massive and inspiring.

If GM can keep the intensity up and the players giving their all like today then i ask for no more as we will do well, especially when we get our better players back into the side.

Today was just what we needed, we now need to capitalise on this with the next two matches especially.