Scunthorpe Utd v Tranmere Rovers Match Discussion

Scunthorpe Utd v Tranmere Rovers Match Discussion

Four Four @#$%& Two please Ronnie

In the words of Mike Bassett!

Thats exactly what came to mind when Matt said that!

The word unlucky is often over-used in football, especially to describe Tranmere but yesterday the word was never more appropriate.

After a first half when they were the better side (although not that much better than us in my opinion), we absolutely battered them second half and deserved a draw at least. I would even go so far as to say we deserved to win in the end.

Their goal was a terrific header which gave Coyne no chance and was scored by their playing beating our best airborne defender (Chorley) to get to the ball.

Moore's goal was fantastic and the best celebration I will ever have followed as I got to Moore first as he ran to the fans!!!

To lose it so late was gutting regardless of whether we would probably have lost on Pens anyway and Johnson, who is yet to have a good game for us, showed again he is a poor man's Ryan Shotton with a terrrible back-pass first half in the opening minutes from which their player fired just wide and then the needless free-kick give-away and own goal at the death.

Just two more points about last night. One is Ronnie Moore who did what the fans wanted to see and went 4-4-2 and also managed to turn the team around at half-time just with a team-talk rather than tactical changes.

His rocket at half-time on Saturday may not have worked but it did last night.

Finally the SWA who were excellent from start to finish and really made the atmosphere great!

I totally agree with that apart from one thing, you were joint first =P I was standing right next to ya! Can't get over how he dodged the steward like that, was so funny. Speaking of funny my mates joke about it not being May and then he goes and scores LOL

Johnson does not do the job for me to be honest. I hate to jump on the bandwagon and critise a player after only a few games but I feel that he cost us the game last night. Not only did he almost gift a goal to then in the first half he gave away the needless freekick for the winner along with the deflection for the actual goal.

Talk about the tale of two halves for Bas Savage. In the first half he was dire but 2nd half he was awesome. Shame he didnt get a goal but the bravery he showed for the Moore goal deserves to be praised.

Another thing that was pleasing was Chris Greenacre getting a start =D Hopefully this will be the start of a decent run in the team and hopefully a few goals.

Credit has to go to everyone that travelled last night because the atmosphere was brilliant, about time if you ask me. Bring On Devonshire FC and Brighton on Saturday =D



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008:12:17:09:36:08 by John_Warrington.

Just absolutely gutted. What a blow that was. We did so well, we were so close to forcing penalties, and the wham, that **** costs us the game. Couldn't believe it. Just at in my chair, head in hands, for about five minutes and then kicked about everything in sight. I haven't felt like that after a game since the Hartlepool semi-final loss.

That was it, it was our night. We had them on the rails after Ian Moore's equaliser, which, by the way, was stunning. You will not see a finish with better technique this season. We were much the better team second half, but to be struck by that hammer blow was shattering. I'm still gutted now. Can't believe it.

We changed it to 4-4-2, and to be honest first half we were weak. We created very little going forward and Savage was consistently offside. The midfield was creating very little whilst the only person in that midfield four who appeared to be doing anything was Jennings, who was all over the place, yet after half-time faded into the back round as Moore took over.

In the second half though we were excellent, I thought. Moore was all over the place. Some of his runs were just superb. He was creating chances and pulling their defenders all over the place. Chris Greenacre was a real plus too. Yes he missed one chance, but by God he worked hard. He ran everywhere to put pressure on defenders to win the ball and came into the game more as it went on.

It was Greenacre's persistence that forced the mistake from Murphy for our goal and what a finish by Moore. Technically brilliant, perfectly struck, powerful and accurate. Just magnificent. Yet again he put in a solid performance and got an important goal. Just a shame it was f***** up for him at the end.

At the back, we were strong. Chorley won pretty much everything in the air and Goodison was much improved too, winning plenty of tackles and more importantly headers too, as they often looked to get in round the back of us. Taylor was much improved too, winning some key tackles and interceptions, although he didn't get forward as much as usual.

The less said about Johnson the better though. He was shocking, again. Cost us the second goal with his stupid foul and then scoring the own goal from the free-kick, whilst his passing was generally awful, including a pass-back to Danny in the opening moments that was far too weak. It was lucky their lad put the shot wide from it. He needs to be sent back to Middlesbrough ASAP, he is just useless.

Their first goal was excellent I thought. Perhaps whoever was marking the lad, May, could have done better, but by God what a header. Perfectly placed in the top corner and very powerful from near the 18-yard line - Danny didn't have a chance.

My one complaint from the night is that after we got the goal, we didn't make the pressure count. We didn't take our momentum forward and get a second. We had a few chances, but far too often Jennings, Kay and Savage were running offside, whilst on a number of occasions Scunthorpe defended well.

I don't think we deserved to lose. Yes they were better in the first 45, much, much better, but in the second half we took the game to them and got it level then pushed forward for a second too. But we just couldn't do it.

A draw would have been fair and a 90th minute winner is oh so hard to take. I'm still gutted now, just really gutted. We were so close to that Northern Final, and so close to Wembley.

Nights like this make you wonder why we put ourselves through all this. Football takes us emotionally from one extreme to the other, and all within 90 minutes. Excitement, dissapointment, elation and then devistation. It's hard to take, but I look back on it, and it will be evenings and loses like tonight that make any future success all the more sweeter, that little bit better, and that's why we support Tranmere. Because we can come from the depths of depression to experience success that a fan of Manchester United or Chelsea might well never understand.

A final word for our fans, magnificent, bar ten minutes before half time. We were vocally superb, getting behind the boys and sucking that equaliser in. Again we outsung the home ends but we would have outsung anybody with how loud we were tonight. Magnificent. It's nights like tonight that make you feel proud to be a Tranmere fan, regardless of the result.

Just for Mike =D =D





And for the moment of your life =P

Have you got the highlights? Definately need to see Moore's goal again.

As for the moment of his life, that was when he get a kiss at the Masters

I guess we were equal John yeah and I agree about dodging the Steward - that was as good as the goal almost lol!!

I agree totally with what John and Matt said about the game and cheers John for those pictures lol!

10 minutes worth of highlights can be found on Scunny's website =D

You need to have world though

I still can't get it to work John as it's saying the number of licences for the Clip have been exceeded.