Tranmere Rovers
Chorley Off as Rovers are Beaten at Bescot
Dismissed
By Stephen McKeown
April 6 2008
Ben Chorley was dismissed in the first half as Tranmere fell to a 2-1 defeat at Walsall on Saturday. After Jennison Myrie-Williams had given them an early lead, things looked good for Rovers but the game and the result turned on a first half moment of mayhem.
Walsall 2 - 1 Tranmere R Attendance: 5,745 Match Referee: Carl Boyeson (Yorkshire)
Saturday saw a significant game take place at the Bank's Stadium in Walsall were two Play Off contenders went head to head. Coming into the final six games of the season, both teams wanted to cement their chances of being in the top six by May and if there was to be a loser, it would damage any aspirations of this.
In Walsall's case it more do or die, as a loss would certainly leave them with an almost impossible task meaning they would have to win all of the final games to stand any chance.
Most people predicted this game as an a score draw, with the two points dropped by either side not beneficial whatsoever.
The League Positions BEFORE the game were as follows:
Home Away
Pos/Team P W D L F A P W L D F A Pts
6th/Tranmere 41 12 4 5 31 16 5 7 8 18 24 9 62
9th/Walsall 40 6 8 5 22 19 8 7 6 23 17 9 57
As you can see was tight even between three positions with the goal difference exactly the same so it could even come down to that!
Going into the game, Ronnie Moore named an unchanged side to the one that beat Swindon Town last Friday night. In fact the only changes that were made was that of the substitutes bench were the fit again Chris Shuker replaced John Mullin as Rovers lined up with a 4-4-2 formation.
-----------------------------------------------Danny Coyne----------------------------------------------
--Robbie Stockdale--------Ben Chorley---------Ian Goodison-----------Andy Taylor---
--Jennison Myrie Williams---Steven Jennings----Paul McLaren---Shane Sherriff--
--------------------------Ian Moore-------------------Chris Greenacre------------------------------
The atmosphere inside the ground began to build from around 2.00pm when the gates opened for the away supporters to flood in. Before kickoff, some of the Total Tranmere team had made their way to a local fish and chip shop before heading back to the ground where they were met by more well known faces.
The entertainment was somewhat "poor" as a local singer paraded the stage for all to witness her "talents" outside of the ground. Once people had either paid by ticket or with cash, the Super White Army contingent made themselves heard while the Saddlers rode in to the ground, with more fans entering as 3.00pm loomed.
To make the match feel as though it was like a "cup final" we decided to throw paper up in the air which down quite well. The atmosphere had reached fever pitch by the time the players arrived out of the tunnel and the traditional team huddle consequently meant a response from the Rovers fans with an almighty roar.
It certainly seemed to do the trick as with only three minutes gone, the first goal arrived when some people were still taking their seats. A well worked move down the left, which all started from a throw in by the assister Andy Taylor.
From the throw, Taylor received the ball back from Shane Sherriff and whipped a delightful ball across the box which was just waiting to be attacked.
Jennsion Myrie Williams was the one who arrived first and leaped above Ian Roper the Walsall centre back to direct his unstoppable header past Clayton Ince and into the roof of the net.
Cue delirium in the away end as 760 fans went berserk. Fans were falling down seats as this was the goal that cemented our realistic chances of a priceless playoff berth.
After many were still choking on their recently purchased food as they were about to sit down, Walsall set about getting about the scores level sooner rather than later.
The home side had no clear cut chances in the first twenty minutes or so, but still the tempo of the game was more like a fencing match, with Tranmere reluctant to get forward and get a killer second goal, but holding guard not wanting to let the trap door open at the back.
Walsall had three or four corners which Rovers defended with force, and the end of the attack saw their main play maker Edrissa Sonko fire over the bar from 25 yards out not troubling Coyne too much.
Then on eight minutes, Michael Dobson had a free kick which was struck low down to Danny Coyne's right hand post which he smothered. Tranmere then had a couple of chances of their own with a superb cross field ball from Taylor to Myrie Williams finding him pinpoint, but the end product however was a good cross but no striker on the end of it.
This could have been the way Walsall could have found the back of the net to equalise but for an outstanding challenge from Robbie Stockdale who prevented Lee Holmes being in a one on one situation with Coyne, it ended their counter attack and the play hit a dry patch on chances.
It would be ten minutes before the next opportunity arose, when midfielder Steven Jennings fired straight at Clayton Ince hands from 25 yards. A bizarre moment occurred two minutes later when Danny Coyne made a great reaction save from Tommy Mooney after a spectator had ran onto the pitch and confused the outrushing goalkeeper. Once that the idiot had been sorted, the referee decided that a bounce up was the best possible solution.
On 27 minutes, the ever advancing Andy Taylor bombed up the wing and hit an angled shot past the Keeper's near post after sprinting past Rhys Weston.
The most pivotal part of the game arrived after Coyne made a good save from the probing Sonko on 38 minutes. A minute later all hell broke loose in the Tranmere defence as wild miss kick from Paul McLaren in midfield found its way to Kevin Betsy, who had already broken past Ben Chorley and was one on one.
In an effort to regain possession and tackle the striker without causing a penalty, Betsy who had the pace was taken out of his stride when Chorley put his hand on the Shoulder of Betsy who went down rather too easily for the on looking away supporters behind the goal as only minutes early Betsy had gone down, after the slightest of touches by Ian Goodison which had also looked like minimal contact.
The referee pointed to the spot, and because Chorley was last man he duly sent him off. To the disgust of most of the players and the majority of the fans in the stand, Tranmere were now down to ten and faced a penalty from the prolific Tommy Mooney who has had more clubs than you can count on your hand and is still going strong at the end of his long career.
To the delight of everyone though, justice was done as his penalty was very poor and a great height for Danny Coyne to get both hands to it and parry it away before the defenders cleared it for a corner. Robbie Stockdale was then seen fisting towards the fans and gearing them up even more. Plenty of us thought that it was fate for us to come away from the Bank's stadium with three points - after all we had never lost there in our previous visits.
The home side continued to press forward and the pressure began to show on the last line of defence. They finally got level on the stroke of half time when a goal mouth scramble resulted in Alassane N'Dour ‘s shot, which he scuffed into the ground, rebounding off the static and motionless Shane Sherriff and nestling in the back of the net, sending Danny Coyne who had already dived before the deflection took place, the wrong way.
The sides went in level, but Tranmere knew that would have to work twice as hard to earn a point there first half display had deserved
HALF TIME: WALSALL 1 - 1 TRANMERE ROVERS
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