At the Prenton Park ticket desk pre-match a supporter was arguing his case to be allowed to buy a ticket for the away end. The staff were unmoved and he left ticketless. The lucky bastard.
Joking aside, let’s start with the positives. For the first five minutes or so Doncaster were bright, energetic and threatening. A low Charlie Seaman cross should’ve been turned in; George Miller had a shot blocked. I was excited, enthused, and then from that point onwards, until the final two minutes when Miller had an effort cleared off the line, the square root of bugger all.
Throughout Doncaster moved the ball back and forth across the backline in an effort to draw the press and create midfield options; a not unreasonable tactic. But for it to work, it needs the players in front to create options to play through, and not only did that not happen, but from the stands it looked like they were playing to a completely different tactic. And with no options the only way to break the sideways movement was to go long. Optimistically. Unsuccessfully. Repeatedly.
Whilst Doncaster persisted with this futile endeavour, Tranmere found the net three times. Enough to make them look convincing winners, but in actuality they’d barely had to break stride. Add to that another injury to Jon Taylor, and Tom Anderson unwisely returning verbals to those in the stands who’d sent them his way, and it all made for a far from vintage Boxing Day. Merry Christmas.
by Glen Wilson
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