Tranmere share points in home draw to Walsall

Tranmere hosted Walsall today in their latest fixture in the 2022/23 League Two season.

Despite the busy schedule over the festive period, games now tend to be once every seven days, which gives Mellon’s players the time to prepare for upcoming fixtures.

Ahead of the game, Micky Mellon said, “It gives us more time to work on things, and gives the players more time to recover. We’d rather play games, but we’re making good use of the time that we’ve got between games.”

Since the opening of the January Transfer Window two weeks ago, we have seen the departures of Ross Doohan, Dynel Simeu, Elliott Nevitt and Neill Byrne.

Match Report: Tranmere Rovers v Walsall

Tranmere Rovers 1 v 1 Walsall
Hawkes (78′)GoalsJohnson (72′)
Assists
HT 0-0

Tranmere had to make do with a share of the points after a hard-fought game against Walsall ended one-a-piece at Prenton Park this afternoon.

Rovers’ first chance before five minutes were on the clock. Kieron Morris’ shot from outside the box was a great effort, but it missed to the right.

Tranmere had greater possession in the first half and trying to take advantage, Tom Davies’ tried a header from the centre of the box, but it failed to count as it went wide to the right at 18 minutes.

Davies had another go at goal just before half time, but his shot was saved by Walsall keeper, Owen Evans.

After the restart, Jake Burton was caught offside, on the receiving end of a through ball from Ethan Bristow.

Walsall had a couple of attempts at goal before Tranmere’s next chance, when a shot from outside the box by Morris was blocked.

Just shy of 70 minutes, former Tranmere man, Emmanuel Monthe tried a header towards the goal but it didn’t trouble Mateusz Hewelt, as it was a little high.

Minutes later, the deadlock was broken when against the run of play, Walsall’s Danny Johnson fired a shot from the right side of the box, lobbing Hewelt into the centre of the goal.

Less than five minutes later Walsall were reduced to 10 men when Manny Monthe was given a second yellow card for a bad foul.

The resulting free-kick on the edge of the box, taken by Josh Hawkes was a 20-yard rocket that Owen Evans couldn’t stop.

Tranmere kept the pressure on but couldn’t break the deadlock against 10-man Walsall and as the final whistle ble, the home side had to settle for a share of the points.

Tranmere visit Doncaster Rovers for a 3pm kick off on Saturday 21 January in their next game of the 2022/23 League Two season.

Match Highlights

Following soon …

Gallery

Credit: Tony Coombes
Credit: Tony Coombes
Credit: Tony Coombes
Credit: Tony Coombes
Credit: Tony Coombes
Credit: Tony Coombes

Fans’ Twitter Reaction

https://twitter.com/LHoyle_/status/1614309508402278402
https://twitter.com/GroundHopChris/status/1614312024653332481


Post Match Interview

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
6 Chris Merrie MF
11 Josh Hawkes MF
4 Lee O’Connor MF
7 Kieron Morris MF
10 Kane Hemmings (C) FW
25 Joel Mumbongo FW

Substitutes
13 Joe Murphy SUB
18 Kyle Jameson SUB
17 Rhys Hughes SUB
8 Reece McAlear SUB
16 Jon Nolan SUB
20 Brad Walker SUB
27 Jake Burton SUB

Manager
Micky Mellon

Match Officials
Referee:
Declan Bourne
Assistants: Billy Smallwood and Alan Clayton
Fourth official: Danny Gratton

Walsall – Formation 3-4-1-2
1 Owen Evans GK
6 Emmanuel Monthe DF
5 Donervon Daniels (C) DF
2 Hayden White DF
10 Tom Knowles MF
3 Liam Gordon MF
8 Liam Kinsella MF
23 Isaac Hutchinson MF
14 Brandon Comley FW
16 Jacob Maddox FW
39 Danny Johnson FW

Substitutes
24 Joe Low SUB
18 Oisin McEntee SUB
21 Taylor Allen SUB
31 Robbie Willmott SUB
15 Douglas James-Taylor SUB
9 Conor Wilkinson SUB
11 Andy Williams SUB

Manager
Michael Flynn

Attendance: 6027

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
29/10/2022Carlisle6,576
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
2022/23 Total home attendance80110
2022/23 Total away attendance65083
2022/23 Total attendance (Home & Away)145193
2022/23 Average home attendance6162
2022/23 Average away attendance5006
2022/23 Total average attendance5584

Why not follow birkenhead.news on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to news@birkenhead.news

Facebook comments

Sign up for the FREE birkenhead.news newsletter using this form:

Latest news