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Tranmere hosted Exeter this afternoon for a 3pm kick-off in their latest game of the 2021/22 League 2 season.
Ahead of the game, reflecting on Friday’s draw at Bradford, Micky Mellon said, “I think to be fair the only positive that we can take out of it and we have to be honest is that we got something out of it. I don’t think we started the game well, I think we looked a wee bit lethargic, a wee bit leggy, not enough invention, not enough imagination and urgency, and we passed the ball poorly.
“At the end of the day, we’ve come to a tough place and got a point out of it but I will say that we came here for more and when they went down to ten men we needed to do more.
“We’ve made the substitutions at halftime to try and get a wee bit more out of it, but we never worked the goalkeeper anywhere near enough, because when we got into good areas we either gave the ball away cheaply or the quality into the box was not good enough or we just never got on the end of enough stuff.
Match Report: Tranmere Rovers v Exeter City
Thanks to goals from Josh Hawkes and Elliott Nevitt, Tranmere now find themselves at seventh in the league and in the playoff positions after beating second-placed Exeter 2-0 this afternoon.
Recent poor form had meant that Rovers had dropped from the automatic promotion spots following a run of five games without a win and just two victories in 12 matches.
With eight minutes on the clock, Tom Davies headed Chris Merrie’s corner over the bar and two minutes later, Exeter had a chance when Offrande Zanzala struck the crossbar.
With just five minutes remaining in the first half, Hawkes opened the scoring for Tranmere. A strong and determined Elliott Nevitt played the ball off to McManaman who found Kane Hemmings who cut the ball back perfectly for Hawkes. He easily found the back of the empty net to round off a fantastic team move by Rovers.
Tranmere thrived on taking the lead and grew stronger with each passing minute. Nevitt secured victory with nine minutes to go with a header into the bottom corner of Exeter’s net from Merrie’s curling cross.
Sam Foley should have added to the scoreline when a square cross provided by Daceres-Cogley perfectly found Foley, but the resulting shot went narrowly wide.
Tranmere visit Stevenage for a 3pm kick-off on Saturday 23 April in their next League 2 fixture.
Where has that display been for that last few weeks?!Well deserved three points for Tranmere.Two well taken goals that reignites play off hopes. Exeter poor this afternoon, expected a much tougher game but they should still get autos.#TRFC #ECFC— Craig Perkins (@CraigPerkins17) April 18, 2022
Where has that display been for that last few weeks?!Well deserved three points for Tranmere.Two well taken goals that reignites play off hopes. Exeter poor this afternoon, expected a much tougher game but they should still get autos.#TRFC #ECFC
Credit where it’s due: McManaman was top notch today #swa— Kev Ebbs (@kevebbs) April 18, 2022
Credit where it’s due: McManaman was top notch today #swa
Thought we battled brilliantly there. Centre backs were solid I never felt they were going to score. Merrie and McManaman outstanding and the top two worked so hard. Keeps the dream alive. #SWA #TRFC— Danny Walton (@dannywalton) April 18, 2022
Thought we battled brilliantly there. Centre backs were solid I never felt they were going to score. Merrie and McManaman outstanding and the top two worked so hard. Keeps the dream alive. #SWA #TRFC
That’s more like it boys the same again please #SWA #TRFC https://t.co/5oRQYTqApa— Emma Louise Stirling (@stirling_emma) April 18, 2022
That’s more like it boys the same again please #SWA #TRFC https://t.co/5oRQYTqApa
Who’s everyone’s McManaman of the Match?— LUX ET ROBUR (@luxetrobur) April 18, 2022
Who’s everyone’s McManaman of the Match?
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Tranmere Rovers – Formation 4-4-213 Joe Murphy GK2 Josh Dacres-Cogley DF6 Chris Merrie DF5 Tom Davies DF26 Peter Clarke (C) DF22 Lee O’Connor MF14 Callum McManaman MF19 Lewis Warrington MF15 Josh Hawkes MF10 Kane Hemmings FW20 Elliott Nevitt FW
Substitutes25 Ross Doohan SUB24 Kyle Hayde SUB17 Sam Foley SUB8 Jay Spearing SUB12 Charlie Jolley SUB18 Nicky Maynard SUB21 Joshua McPake SUB
ManagerMicky Mellon
Match OfficialsReferee: Chris PollardAssistants: Abbas Khan and Oliver BickleFourth official: Billy Smallwood
Exeter City – Formation 3-4-1-21 Cameron Dawson GK39 Cheick Diabate DF6 Sam Stubbs DF26 Pierce Sweeney (C) DF12 Joshua Key MF3 Jack Sparkes MF8 Archie Collins MF21 Callum Rowe MF14 Timothee Dieng FW20 Jevani Brown FW18 Offrande Zanzala FW
Substitutes40 Scott Brown SUB2 Jake Caprice SUB27 Jonathan Grounds SUB31 Josh Coley SUB7 Matt Jay SUB11 Padraig Amond SUB15 Kieran Phillips SUB
ManagerMatt Taylor
Attendance: 6,666
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