By Deadly Submarine
April 9 2007

Tranmere snatched a fortunate win over Brighton at Prenton Park thanks to a seemingly harsh but vital injury-time penalty from Chris Greenacre after youngster Craig Curran scored with his first touch on his home debut fifteen minutes from time.

 

 

 

Attendance: 5,528 (303 Away Fans)

 

Match Referee: Anthony Bates (Staffordshire)

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR MATCH STATISTICS AND LINE-UPS

 

So many times this season, I’ve found myself writing about a team snatching an undeserved win against Rovers but today it was Tranmere’s turn to snatch three vital points from a game that on reflection deserved a draw.

 

It was yet another frustrating and at times laboured performance from the home side who fell behind after only eleven minutes thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Ian Goodison.  The score stayed that way for a long time before the introduction of Steve Davies changed the game and Rovers snatched an equaliser from Craig Curran who scored with his first touch on his home debut.

 

Three minutes into injury time, Chris Greenacre was somewhat harshly judged to have been impeded right on the edge of the penalty area and the striker converted the spot-kick to seal Rovers first home win since the 2-0 win over Chesterfield just over a month ago.

 

Ronnie Moore made five changes to the side that started the 3-2 defeat at Blackpool on Saturday with suspensions for midfield pair John Mullin and Jason McAteer after both being sent off on Saturday meaning they were replaced by Danny Harrison and the returning Paul McLaren after injury.

 

At the back, Chris McCready dropped to the bench as loan defender John Thompson returned to the starting line-up after a lengthy knee injury whilst Carl Tremarco who was stretchered off at Blackpool was replaced at left-back by Shane Sherriff.

 

The final change to the line-up saw Gareth Taylor replaced by Kevin Ellison which meant that Chris Greenacre and Calvin Zola were the strike pairing with Ellison playing on the left wing.

 

A couple of chances were exchanged in the opening ten minutes with Ian Goodison’s header from a corner being punched clear well at the near post by Brighton keeper Scott Flinders as the Jamaican still looks for his first goal of the season.

 

At the other end Adam El-Abd flashed his free header wide of the target when it looked easier to score.

 

In the 11^th minute though the visitors took the lead as John Thompson’s attempt to clear instead fell to Dean Cox and as Robbie Stockdale stood off him, Cox was able to cross into the area and the ball hit the back of Ian Goodison’s legs and went into the net for an own goal and a disastrous start for Rovers.

 

After the goal, most of the action was in the Brighton half as Zola fired a good chance well over from 25 yards out and Ellison had a header saved by Flinders.

 

Brighton did almost double their lead on the half hour mark when Sam Rents smashed a superb shot onto the crossbar but the ball was cleared by the Rovers defence.

 

Just before the break, Chris Shuker rolled his low angled shot just past the far post as Rovers, for all their chances, failed to score and the half-time break saw them still a goal down.

 

Just into the second half, Zola again fired over the crossbar after a knock-down by Chris Greenacre and Flinders saved well from an overhead kick by Robbie Stockdale of all people although offside had already been given.

 

With half an hour to go, the relatively ineffective Kevin Ellison was replaced by Steve Davies and suddenly Rovers looked much more dangerous.  Soon after, it was the second substitution by Ronnie Moore that paid dividends as Craig Curran replaced Chris Shuker for his home debut.

 

Within seconds, the youngster was on the scoresheet with his first touch as Shane Sherriff produced the ball of the match, flicking it into the area for the onrushing Craig Curran to finish well past Flinders.

 

Just when a draw looked most likely, Chris Greenacre was upended on the edge of the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot.  The decision looked harsh and looked outside the area but after recent events, Rovers weren’t complaining as Greenacre picked himself and fired low into the bottom left corner to seal the win with what turned out to be virtually the last kick of the match.

 

The win was crucial for Rovers as it stops the recent rot of results but with Yeovil winning late on at home, Rovers play-off chances are still no better than they were at 5pm on Saturday.

 

Next up for Rovers is a trip to Millwall for their penultimate away game of the season.  Another three points would be very nice indeed.

 

 

Danny Harrison – Stepping up the replace Jason McAteer in midfield, Danny pulled the strings in midfield in this game and more than deserves the Man of the Match Award.

 

CLICK HERE FOR MOTM AND PLAYER RATINGS POLLS