Tranmere in deserved victory over Salford

Tranmere hosted Salford City this afternoon in their latest fixture in the 2022/23 League Two season.

Ahead of the game, Micky Mellon said, “We’re looking forward to the game. Everyone who comes to Tranmere expects the team to perform and I’m sure that Salford will. We’re looking forward to the game and getting back on the pitch, we’re looking forward to looking like ourselves again.

“We want to see more tempo and more powerful running and fast-paced passing, so we’re looking forward to trying to get back to that against Salford at the weekend.

“We’ll put out a Tranmere team that can represent the Club properly.”

Match Report: Tranmere Rovers v Salford City

Tranmere Rovers 1 v 0 Salford City
Morris (22′)Goals
Bristow (22′)Assists
HT 1-0

A first-half goal from Kieron Morris proved to be the deciding factor as Tranmere beat Salford 1-0 in their latest game of the League Two season at Prenton Park.

This result saw Tranmere climb back into the top half of the standings, while Salford missed the opportunity to move into fourth place.

The proceedings got off to a quick start when Louis Barry launched a shot from 25 yards, but it missed its mark. Shortly after, Kieron Morris redirected a header onto the crossbar, all within the first five minutes.

Early on, Salford caused some concern as Ryan Watson fired a shot just wide of the mark from 20 yards out.

However, Tranmere took the lead in the mid-first half when Kieron Morris slid in to put away a low cross from Ethan Bristow at the far post.

Tranmere exerted continuous pressure, as crosses from Hemmings and Dacres-Cogley were both cleared by the Salford defence.

Tranmere were firmly in charge of the match and Salford’s goalkeeper, Alex Cairns, was forced to make a fantastic save from Harvey Saunders’ well-struck low drive. Just before halftime, Saunders was at it again and almost scored a spectacular goal as his overhead kick narrowly missed the mark.

At half time the score remained at 1-0, with Tranmere and Salford having roughly an equal share of possession, but the hosts having six attempts at goal compared to the visitor’s three.

After the break, Conor McAleny came close to scoring for Salford, while on the other end, Alex Cairns made a clever save from Morris.

The visitors then had some misfortune when some frantic defending saw Bristow clear Luke Bolton’s shot off the line and onto the post, before Tom Davies hacked away Matt Smith’s follow-up attempt.

Towards the end of the match, Morris nearly scored a second goal when his long-range shot was stopped by a diving save from Cairns.

The deserved result means Salford sit in sixth place and Tranmere climb to 11th, four points off the playoffs.

Tranmere visit Bradford City for a 7:45pm kick off on Tuesday 14 February in their next game of the 2022/23 League Two season.

Match Highlights

Gallery

Images Credit: Tony Coombes

Fans’ Twitter Reaction

https://twitter.com/TranmereCrohnie/status/1624452389431394306


Post Match Interviews

Line-ups

Tranmere Rovers – Formation 4-4-2
23 Mateusz Hewelt GK
2 Josh Dacres-Cogley DF
3 Ethan Bristow DF
5 Tom Davies DF
14 Jordan Turnbull DF
4 Lee O’Connor MF
7 Kieron Morris MF
24 Regan Hendry MF
11 Josh Hawkes MF
10 Kane Hemmings (C) FW
26 Harvey Saunders FW
Substitutes
13 Joe Murphy SUB
18 Kyle Jameson SUB
6 Chris Merrie SUB
33 Jay Turner-Cook SUB
27 Jake Burton SUB
19 Logan Chalmers SUB
25 Joel Mumbongo SUB

Manager
Micky Mellon

Match Officials
Referee:
James Oldham
Assistants: Danny Gratton and Lewis Dawson
Fourth official: Richard Woodward

Salford City – Formation 4-2-3-1
12 Alex Cairns GK
38 Shane McLoughlin DF
3 Ibou Touray (C) DF
42 Theo Vassell DF
26 Ryan Leak DF
7 Ryan Watson MF
20 Louie Barry MF
6 Elliot Watt MF
16 Ethan Galbraith MF
18 Conor McAleny MF
27 Callum Morton FW
Substitutes
13 Giosue Bellagambi SUB
10 Odin Bailey SUB
24 Luke Bolton SUB
4 Jason Lowe SUB
8 Matthew Lund SUB
9 Callum Hendry SUB
17 Matt Smith SUB

Manager
Neil Wood

Attendance: TBC

League Table

League 2 season attendance

DateOpponentHome
Attendance
Away
Attendance
20/07/2022Stevenage6111
06/08/2022Mansfield Town7128
13/08/2022Gillingham5414
16/08/2022Hartlepool Utd4072
20/08/2022Newport County4070
27/08/2022Colchester Utd5041
03/09/2022Leyton Orient6578
13/09/2022Bradford City5864
17/09/2022Salford City3175
24/09/2022Walsall5845
01/10/2022Barrow6123
08/10/2022Sutton Utd3007
14/10/2022Crewe Alexandra8001
22/10/2022Harrogate Town2316
25/10/2022Rochdale5742
29/10/2022Carlisle6576
01/11/2022Stockport County6800
12/11/2022Swindon Town9425
19/11/2022AFC Wimbledon6010
03/12/2022Northampton Town5,601
10/12/2022Grimsby Town5134
26/12/2022Doncaster7033
29/12/2022Barrow3383
01/01/2023Crewe Alexandra5349
07/01/2023Sutton United5368
14/01/2023Walsall6027
28/01/2023Leyton Orient5946
04/02/2023Stockport County10231
07/02/2023Doncaster Rovers5775
11/02/2023Salford City6516
2022/23 Total home attendance95572
2022/23 Total away attendance81089
2022/23 Total attendance (Home & Away)173661
2022/23 Average home attendance6171
2022/23 Average away attendance5406
2022/23 Total average attendance5789

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