Tranmere Rovers
Rovers Sort the Mend from the Boys Against Posh
By Mark Ridgway
September 6 2010
Following Saturday's hard-fought 1-0 home win over Peterborough United in N Power League One, Mark Ridgway brings us a match report on the events of the afternoon after Arnaud Mendy's first half strike handed Rovers all three points.....
Tranmere 1 - 0 Peterborough
Arnaud Mendy 44
Attendance: 4,636
Referee: Steve Rushton (Staffordshire)
Tranmere defeated a highly-rated Peterborough Utd side on Saturday afternoon thanks to a well worked goal and some solid defending. With Rovers having over half a dozen first teamers on the treatment table, Parry's decision to bring in Jermaine Grandison and Arnaud Mendy on deadline day proved a shrewd move. The pair were instrumental in this game, with the Derby County loanee Mendy scoring the winner on the stroke of half time.
The team that lined up against Posh saw the return of Ian Thomas-Moore after his proposed transfer to join Rotherham fell through, along with first-time starts for Mendy and Adam McGurk, meaning the team looked like this:
Collister
Darville Grandison Goodison Cresswell
Mendy Blanchard Fraughan
Thomas-Moore Showunmi McGurk
The visitors had won their last three games and seeing that Rovers were yet to record a win this season they must have fancied their chances, so Tranmere dominating the opening stages must have came as a bit of a shock.
After a good flowing move Ryan Fraughan was released down the right and his cross was nodded goal wards by Adam McGurk, but Joe Lewis did well to get down low and tip it round the post.
The game continued to be dominated by Rovers, without them creating any clear cut chances but with the sides effectively cancelling each other out in the danger areas.
Captain Enoch Showumni was a Star Performer
A half chance then fell to McGurk who flashed an effort across the face of goal and when it was returned from the back post by Thomas-Moore, the strikers cross could only be headed over by Enoch Showunmi.
Peterborough's first meaningful chance came when Davies broke down the right and took it past Cresswell and his centred ball eventually fell to Aaron McLean through Boyd, but as the striker was about to pull the trigger Liam Darville produced a superb last ditch block to remove the threat.
Joe Collister did well to touch Boyd's massively deflected effort onto the corner of the woodwork and out for a corner, and he was at his best from the resulting set piece when he tipped Bennett's looping goal bound effort behind again.
When Boyd shot over close to half time the sides seemed likely to go in level but that was until Ryan Fraughan's smart turn down the left gave him time to get his head up and pick our Arnaud Mendy who side footed in from the edge of the six yard box giving the Derby loan man a goal on his League debut.
Half Time: Tranmere Rovers 1 - 0 Peterborough United
Ryan Bennett had the visitor's first effort of the second half but he shot comfortably wide, whilst at the other end Cresswell shot wide with an out-swinging effort after Fraughan did well to set him up.
The game got more and more competitive as it wore on, with the passionate Mendy, Blanchard and Fraughan flying into tackles, as Parry's pre-match rallying call to make us a horrible side had suggested. This got the fans to their feet and raised the decibel levels.
When Thomas-Moore's cross appeared to strike an arm, the penalty appeals where turned down, increasing the noise, and probably helping the fans to get behind the team. This was evident when Darville clearly earned Rovers a corner, but the incompetent referee pointed for a goal kick, further infuriating the home faithful.
Adam McGurk Impressed but went off Injured
McGurk was then replaced by Brown and soon after, the rock that was Ian Goodison shot just past of the top left corner, from a Fraughan corner.
At the Cowshed end, Welphdale shot wide for Boro before the usually prolific Craig Mackail-Smith blasted an over-head kick into row Z.
Brown shot wide for Rovers before Collister gratefully held onto a Grant McCann drilled effort before the former Scunthorpe man struck a free kick that appeared to most of the Stadium to be in, but actually hit the back of the goal, much to the relief of the Rovers fans. The same man was then booked for a high flailing arm to Blanchard face, as the temperature further increased.
Rowe then shot wide and Collister was commanding as ever as he held onto a couple of difficult searching balls, that was helped by no nonsense defending from Goodison and Grandison, who looked much more comfortable that woods did in recent weeks.
The four minutes of injury time were seen out with Rovers playing down the clock in the corners and Peterborough failing to create any clear cut chances. When the final whistle went there was much celebration on three sides of the ground, for the first time since that memorable victory against Millwall back in May.
Full Time: Tranmere Rovers 1 - 0 Peterborough United
Thanks to our Twitter follower Mike Bishop for coming up with the Headline for this story!!
Arnaud Mendy
The impressive Derby man slotted into an inexperienced midfield and was superb, he was passionate in the tackle, the way he was flying into tackles you would think we had played at Prenton park for years. Also impressive were Ian Goodison, Ryan Fraughan, Aaron Cresswell and Enoch Showunmi, along with the rest of the team to be fair.
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06/09/2010 12:50
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