Friday 26th September 2008 - Kick-Off 7.45pm

Tranmere  v  Colchester

Coca-Cola League One at Prenton Park

Friday night football returns to Prenton Park this week for the first time this season as Colchester United make the ridiculously long night-time trip to Prenton Park for the Coca-Cola League One clash.

How many fans will make the trip up from Essex remains to be seen but with Manager Geraint Williams having left the Club earlier this week and after a less than impressive start to the campaign for the newly relegated U's, there has been little to shout about so far at the all new Cuckoo Farm Stadium which the Club moved into at the start of this season.

United boast just one League win this season so far and that came away at Swindon Town when they won 3-1.  That fact alone means that their brand new Stadium is yet to see a win for Colchester.

They did manage to dump cross-water neighbours Gillingham out of the Carling Cup at Priestfield in the first round but subsequently lost to even closer neighbours Ipswich Town in the next round whilst they have also progressed to the second round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy thanks to a 1-0 win at Millwall.

The result that finally saw the end of William's managerial reign this week was a 3-0 home reverse against MK Dons who last season were two Divisions below the U's in League Two.

Rovers will have some confidence ahead of this game having lost just once at home when Oldham stole the points with a 1-0 win in their last Prenton Park fixture almost three weeks ago.

Since that defeat, Rovers have of course picked up an impressive four points on the road in two matches although it could have been six from six had they not lost a 2-0 lead at Peterborough last week.

The two sides last met two seasons ago in the year that Colchester gained promotion to the Championship and on that occasion, the visitors went home from Prenton Park with a point in a 0-0 draw before gaining all three points thanks to a 1-0 win at Layer Road in what turned out to be Tranmere's last game there.

With both Premiership sides across the water playing each other on Saturday lunchtime (the reason for this game being on a Friday night in the first place), hopefully there will be a decent crowd at Prenton Park tomorrow night to support the Whites.

Match Prediction

Rovers 1 - 1 Colchester United

Match Officials

Referee:

Neil Swarbrick (Lancs)

Assistant Referees:

Philip Bramley (W Yorks)

Nicholas Greenhalgh (Lancs)

Fourth Official:

Wayne Trott (Merseyside)

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