Mullin and Greenacre Secure Home Win for Rovers

By Deadly Submarine
March 3 2007

A goal in each half from John Mullin and Chris Greenacre secured a comfortable win for Rovers at home to Chesterfield in a mostly dull game at Prenton Park. Rovers also had a goal in each half disallowed as they deservedly took all three points against the Spireites.

 

 

 

Attendance: 6,254

 

Match Referee: Gary Sutton (Lincolnshire)

 

 

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This game was designated as an Official Flag Day by the Club in the hope of creating an atmosphere at Prenton Park but sadly the match itself was a fairly dull affair although Rovers were worthy of their 2-0 victory as they were rarely troubled against relegation threatened Chesterfield.

 

Goals in each half from John Mullin and Chris Greenacre ensured that Rovers cruised to a second 2-0 win over Chesterfield this season and the home side also had two further goals disallowed either side of half time.  A mistake from substitute Jason McAteer almost gave the visitors a lifeline but Lady Luck was in the Rovers camp on a damp Friday evening.

 

Rovers Boss Ronnie Moore made four changes to the side that was beaten 3-1 at Leyton Orient on Saturday with suspended defensive duo Chris McCready and Ian Goodison returning to the backline along with Robbie Stockdale who had been absent for the trip to Orient and the home game against Cheltenham after having limped off in the game away at Yeovil.

 

The players to make way for Rovers were Carl Tremarco, Dany Harrison and Calvin Zola who was replaced upfront by Gareth Taylor following the Welshman’s defensive duties on Saturday.  The fourth change to the side saw Jason McAteer rested after his recent spell of starts for the Club and he was replaced by Kevin Ellison.

 

Steve Davies returned from an injury to take his place on the bench alongside Calvin Zola, Jason McAteer, Carl Tremarco and on loan goalkeeper Ben Hinchcliffe.

 

Chesterfield fielded former Rovers player Paul Hall in their starting line-up and also had two ex-Rovers on the bench in the shape of Wayne Allison and Reuben Hazell.

 

The opening fifteen minutes of the game were fairly lively and Rovers thought they had taken the lead as early as the fifth minute when Paul McLaren released Kevin Ellison who held off his marker and slotted home but unfortunately for the home crowd, the midfielder had been flagged offside and the celebrations came to a premature end.

 

A few minutes later, Chris Greenacre headed goalwards from a McLaren free-kick but Roche in the Spireites goal made a save and the ball was cleared.

 

The game descended into a rather boring encounter as Gareth Taylor and later Ian Goodison both headed over the Chesterfield crossbar whilst at the other end Mark Allott and Alex Bailey both missed chances for the visitors.

 

Just as the reading of the matchday programme seemed more interesting than the match itself, the game was brought briefly to life when Rovers took the lead in the 21^st minute.

 

Some great holding play from Chris Greenacre on the edge of the penalty area saw John Mullin into space and the midfielder lashed a strike into the top right hand corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season and his fourth in front of the home Rovers support.

 

Right on the stroke of half-time Shane Sherriff had two chances to double Rovers’ lead but but after hitting the post with his first effort, he then saw his second chance a few moments later saved easily by goalkeeper Barry Roche.

 

Rovers deserved their half-time lead but they were dealt a blow in the opening five minutes of the second half when the limping John Mullin had to replaced in midfield by Jason McAteer and just seven minutes after coming on, the player/coach almost undid all of Rovers hard work.

 

McAteer tried to play a backpass to Gavin Ward but was seemingly unaware of Chesterfield striker Colin Larkin lurking on the edge of the Rovers penalty area and the ball fell to him.  Luckily for Rovers though, Larkin’s shot beat Ward but rebounded off the same post that Shane Sherriff had hit earlier and was cleared away.

 

Later in the half, Rovers had a second goal disallowed for a foul after Jason McAteer had blasted a superb effort into the net from long range and shortly afterwards, a fine move by McAteer, McLaren and Greenacre saw Shuker get free down the right but his crossed effort was cleared behind for a Rovers corner.

 

The excellent Kevin Ellison was replaced by Steve Davies in the 70^th minute and just three minutes later, as if to atone for his earlier mistake that had almost cost Rovers dearly, Jason McAteer was then involved in the move that saw Rovers double their lead. 

 

McAteer’s fine through ball into the penalty area released Chris Shuker and he crossed low for an unmarked Chris Greenacre to notch his 16^th goal of the season and pretty much make the game safe for Rovers.

 

Immediately after the goal, Ronnie Moore made his final substitution, bringing on Calvin Zola for the ineffective Gareth Taylor as the game petered out into a drab affair again in the closing fifteen minutes,

 

The visitors had their share of possession but could not find a breakthrough and Rovers ran out deserved winners in the end.

 

Rovers will now have to wait to see how Saturday’s results pan out before making a judgement on their position but this win over Chesterfield cements their current sixth placed position for the time being ahead of what could be a crunch game at home to Swansea City next Saturday.

 

 

Chris Greenacre – His distribution and work rate were second to none again in this game and to score the second goal and his 16^th of the season was nothing more than he deserved for his efforts.

 

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