Match Report – League 2 – Tranmere Rovers 0, Stevenage 1

Tranmere Rovers hosted Stevenage in League Two action at Prenton Park this evening.

Before tonight’s game, Rovers were 3rd in the division and four points off the league leaders with a game in hand. Having won their previous five league games and unbeaten in eight games in all competitions the home side will have approached this evening’s fixture with optimism.

Stevenage were placed 21st in the league before kick-off and have won one, drawn three, and lost two of their previous six games.

The last meeting between the two sides was only on 16 January and the game resulted in a 0-0 stalemate at Broadhall Way.

The game appeared to be heading for the same result as the two teams’ previous meeting in January. But, it wasn’t to be.

Stevenage’s sub, Danny Newton, bagged a late winner in the 82nd minute. And, that’s how Stevenage ended Tranmere’s five-game League Two winning streak.

Tranmere were not up to their previous form, with one fan on Twitter saying they looked “tired, disjointed” and just did “a lot of hoofing the ball.”

Tranmere newcomer Ali Crawford almost got off to a flying start three minutes into his debut, but Luther James-Wilden cleared his corner with a header.

Another Stevenage substitute, Matty Stevens, appeared at first to have broken the stalemate at 67 minutes when he headed the ball, which hit the underside of the crossbar and the match officials declared that the ball did not cross the line.

This was a good result for Stevenage and at least Tranmere didn’t lose points to a team directly challenging for automatic promotion.

Tranmere’s next match is this weekend, Saturday 12 February, as they visit Grimsby Town for a 3pm kick-off.

Matt Hibbert’s thoughts…

Just a really really poor performance from 1 to 11, and you could argue the subs who came on were even worse!

The only consolation would be we surely can’t play that badly again, you’ve got to think that the likes of Blackett-Taylor and Ferrier have to be brought back into the squad after that, at least to the bench for Saturday’s trip to rock bottom Grimsby.

Matt Hibbert – Presenter, This is Tranmere Podcast

Matt Hibbert, Paul Harper and Jake Keogh present the “This is Tranmere” podcast available on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts & Spotify with post-match reaction for every Tranmere game. #TRFC #SWA

These are the links to the Tranmere v Stevenage podcast:
Soundcloud
Apple podcasts
Spotify