Tranmere Rovers
Plymouth Argyle v Tranmere Rovers: Match Preview
By Louise Formston
April 24 2015
Our Match Preview writer Louise Formston takes a look ahead to Saturday afternoon's must-win away game against Plymouth Argyle.......
Following a damaging 3-0 defeat to Oxford United last Saturday, Tranmere Rovers will head south this weekend under the leadership of Alan Rogers and Shaun Garnett – the management team tasked with saving Rovers from the drop. Micky Adams’ departure came after a run of five defeats saw Rovers fall back to the bottom of League Two, and indeed the Football League and now the Rogers and Garnett combination aim to start their survival campaign by performing miracles as Rovers hope to come away with three points against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.
Form Guide:
Plymouth currently sit 7th in the table, occupying the final play-off place despite their form being patchy of late. A win, two draws and two losses have left the Pilgrims looking over their shoulders as both Luton Town and Newport have closed in and are waiting to steal that coveted play-off spot. Last time out, Plymouth lost 2-0 away to Carlisle and will be hoping to avoid any more defeats against relegation candidates. Even with this drop in form, Plymouth have still recorded twelve home wins this season, with just four losses along the way.
Rovers on the other hand, have failed to win at all in April so far, picking up only one point back on Good Friday against Stevenage. On the road, Tranmere have lost an unlucky 13 times now, and have scored just two goals all month (both coming back at Stevenage). Taking all of this into account, a win for Rovers is looking unlikely but never underestimate the power of a manager change and the SWA who have managed to fill six coaches ahead of the fixture. We’re due a bit of luck; maybe this weekend is the time.
Previous Meetings:
Plymouth Argyle took all three points when these two met back in October. A first half goal from Reuben Reid was enough to condemn Rovers to their fourth straight defeat. The result saw the Palios’ hand Rob Edwards his P45 and Rovers were left without a manager before Micky Adams was given the reins. Maybe its fitting that following Adams’ departure Tranmere will again take on Plymouth with something to prove?
Prior to the October meeting, the sides’ last contest came back in the 2010/2011 season with both teams enjoying the dizzying heights League One. Rovers won both the games (Dale Jennings, Lateef Elford-Alliyu and Enoch amongst the scorers) with Plymouth going on to be relegated that season.
Injuries and Suspensions:
Last weekend saw Jason Koumas return to the field, much to the delight of the fans – albeit perhaps a little too late to save the game. Matt Hill also completed another twenty minutes. Whilst everyone came through the game safely, reports on Twitter this week suggest Danny Holmes has picked up an injury in training and is now a major doubt for the weekend’s game.
After not featuring in Plymouth’s 2-0 defeat at Carlisle due to a groin injury, midfielder Olly Lee has returned to his parent club Birmingham for treatment and is not expected to return this season. Joining Lee on the sidelines is fellow midfielder Lee Cox (formerly of Swindon Town) who has suffered from a recurring muscle strain this season will mostly likely sit out the game on Saturday.
According to some rumours, Danny Holmes may miss out tomorrow for Rovers
The Opposition Dugout:
John Sheridan will perhaps go under the radar this weekend, with the focus inevitably being placed on the new to management duo of Rogers and Garnett. After a reasonably successful playing career at Leeds, Wednesday, Bolton and Oldham amongst others, Sheridan began his foray into management at Oldham, becoming a co-caretaker manager in 2001 before taking the reins permanently in 2006. Staying at Oldham till 2009, Sheridan eventually left and took charge of Chesterfield.
At Chesterfield, Sheridan oversaw a promotion to League One in 2011, as well as a Football League Trophy (JPT) Final win over Swindon Town in 2012. However despite that Wembley finish, Chesterfield found themselves relegated to League Two with Sheridan departing shortly into the start of the 2012-2013 season. Four months later and Sheridan was appointed manager of Plymouth Argyle in January 2013, and went on to win Manager of the Month in March of that year.
Saving Argyle from relegation, Sheridan was handed a new three year deal and last season and guided Plymouth to a 10th place finish. Although 10th place is the highest ever finish of a Plymouth side, Sheridan arguably should have done better. Plymouth were poised to seal a playoff place but lost eight of the last nine games and dropped down the table. This year however, with just two games to go a playoff place is looking likely, but I would expect Sheridan to be reminding the team of last year and how close they came. Hopefully the pressure proves just too much on Saturday and Plymouth have an off day!
One to Watch:
Reuben Reid (English) - 26
Plymouth striker Reuben Reid is currently Argyle’s top scorer with 17 league goals, including one against Tranmere earlier in the season. His playing career started at Plymouth and has seen him have a brief spell at West Bromwich Albion, as well as stints at Brentford, Oldham and Yeovil before returning to Plymouth in 2013. Having scored a hattrick against Exeter back in February, Reid has only scored two goals since – both of which came against Cheltenham at the end of last month. Despite this, he’s 10/11 to score anytime on Saturday (SkyBet).
Former players of both sides include French national Maxime Blanchard. The defender spent a season with Rovers, making 20 appearances in the process before moving to Plymouth in 2011. Blanchard stayed at Plymouth until the end of last season. Despite winning Player of the Year for 2013/2014, Plymouth manager Sheridan chose not to renew the players contract and Blanchard currently plies his trade in Ireland, playing for Shamrock Rovers.
Around the League:
Cheltenham vs Shrewsbury: Cheltenham sit in 23rd in the table and head into this weekend after defeat last weekend to Northampton whilst Shrewsbury know a win here and kind results elsewhere could see them go top of the League Two table.
Hartlepool vs Exeter: Perched just above the drop zone, Hartlepool will be keen to take all three points at home to Exeter City, who are arguably without anything to play for this weekend as they sit 11th in the table. Both teams lost last weekend so I’m hoping for another Hartlepool loss with Exeter deciding they’d like to have a go!
The following two games are just out of interest due to no other teams having any real effect on Tranmere this weekend:
Bury vs Wimbledon: Bury failed to capitalise on their game in hand in the week, losing 1-0 to Southend but despite this automatic promotion is not out of reach. Another loss on Saturday would see the Shakers forced to settle for playoffs and hopefully mean they play a weakened side the week after at Prenton Park with the view of avoiding key injuries right before the play-offs.
Oxford vs Cambridge: With the Boat Race having not long taken place, the two University towns will meet this weekend. When they met earlier in the season Cambridge managed a staggering 5-1 win over Oxford, who will inevitably be out for revenge and hope to emulate their University’s Boat Race success. Both teams head into this after wins last Saturday.
My Predictions:
What team Rogers and Garnett will choose to put out is anybody’s guess and I won’t try too either but hopefully will see a balance between calm, experienced heads (enter Jason Koumas and Steve Jennings) and energetic youth keen to prove their worth (George Green and Rory Donnelly spring to mind here).
Social media speculation has seen comments of Garnett perhaps bringing some of his youth side into first team football and whilst I agree that they are Tranmere bred and have that winning mentality, whilst we can still control our fate somewhat, its not the right time.
Should we head into Bury already down, that is when we should bring some youth through and allow them their chance to shine. Against Oxford, the team looked scared going forward. No one was brave enough to take on a shot, and when they did they wanted that extra touch which often led to defenders getting back or the ball going wide. Personally I felt the crowd didn’t help. Myrie-Williams missed a one on one with a keeper shortly after being booed by the Kop for wanting an extra touch. He’s a player I feel is confidence-dependant and should have been brought off sooner. Despite that, he’s performed solidly away from home – more weight to the argument perhaps?
Score Prediction? Again my head is arguing with my heart here. Whilst I would love to see a decisive Tranmere win with the SWA smiling all the way home and everyone around us deciding to bottle it, I just feel Plymouth will be too much (who thought we’d ever say that?) and another loss is on the cards.
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24/04/2015 16:48
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