Tranmere hosted Mansfield Town this afternoon in their latest fixture in the 2022/23 League Two season.
Ahead of the game, Micky Mellon said, “We’ve picked up a few injuries, but we don’t make excuses for that, and we can give players the opportunity who deserve to play, and perform, and show us what they’re made of, so they’ll have the opportunity to do that.
“None of the longer-term injuries are back yet, but we’ll put a team out who we think will represent us properly.”
Match Report: Tranmere Rovers v Mansfield Town
| Tranmere Rovers 0 |  v  | 2 Mansfield Town |
| Goals | Harbottle (34′) Keillor-Dunn (54′) | |
| Assists | Quinn (34′) | |
| HT 0-1 |
At Prenton Park this afternoon, Mansfield Town asserted their credentials as genuine promotion challengers in League Two by registering an impressive 2-0 victory over Tranmere Rovers.
At half-time, Rovers were trailing the promotion-chasing Stags after Riley Harbottle’s header 11 minutes before the interval.
Nigel Clough’s men extended their lead early in the second half, as Davis Keillor-Dunn found the back of the net, securing the win.
Micky Mellon opted for three changes from Tuesday’s game at Bradford City, with Joe Murphy replacing Mateusz Hewelt in goal, making him Rovers’ oldest player at the age of 41. In addition, Jay Turner-Cooke and Joel Mumbongo were brought in to replace Kieron Morris and Kane Hemmings.
Tranmere started the match brightly and within the opening five minutes, Rovers had two opportunities to score. Harvey Saunders seized on a misplaced pass by Elliott Hewitt on the left but dragged his low shot wide across the goal. Then, Lee O’Connor’s long-range attempt flew over the crossbar of goalkeeper Christy Pym.
The Nottinghamshire side took the lead in the 34th minute. Stephen Quinn played a tidy one-two with Jordan Bowery from a free-kick before crossing the ball into a packed penalty area from the right. Despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Joe Murphy to prevent it, Riley Harbottle met the cross and headed the ball over the line.
In search of an equalizer, Dacres-Cogley combined effectively with Turner-Cooke on the right. However, the forward on loan from Newcastle United missed the target with his left-footed strike from outside the box.
Two minutes into the second half, Hawkes had the ball in the net with a well-taken finish but his effort was disallowed for offside.
Mansfield doubled their lead 54 minutes into the game. Alfie Kilgour played a long searching ball that found James Clarke, who managed to get in between George Jameson and Ethan Bristow. Clarke’s chip was pushed onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Joe Murphy, but Davis Keillor-Dunn was in the right place to follow up and score with his right foot, putting Mansfield Town two goals ahead.
Tranmere visit Stevenage for a 3pm kick off on Saturday 25 February in their next game of the 2022/23 League Two season.
Match Highlights
Gallery
Images Credit: Tony Coombes
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Line-ups
Tranmere Rovers – Formation 4-4-2
13 Joe Murphy GK
2 Josh Dacres-Cogley DF
3 Ethan Bristow DF
5 Tom Davies (C) DF
18 Kyle Jameson DF
4 Lee O’Connor MF
33 Jay Turner-Cook MF
24 Regan Hendry MF
11 Josh Hawkes MF
26 Harvey Saunders FW
25 Joel Mumbongo FW
Substitutes
23 Mateusz Hewelt SUB
29 Max Fisher SUB
22 Paul Lewis SUB
6 Chris Merrie SUB
16 Jon Nolan SUB
27 Jake Burton SUB
19 Logan Chalmers SUB
Manager
Micky Mellon
Match Officials
Referee: Lee Swabey
Assistants: Chris Isherwood and Alex Gray
Fourth official: Tom Nield
Mansfield Town – Formation 3-5-2
1 Christy Pym GK
14 James Perch DF
24 Alfie Kilgour DF
6 Harbottle DF
4 Elliott Hewitt MF
9 Jordan Bowery MF
8 Ollie Clarke (C) MF
16 Stephen Quinn MF
17 Kieran Wallace MF
7 Lucas Akins FW
40 Davis Keillor-Dunn FW
Substitutes
13 Scott Flinders SUB
22 Taylor Anderson SUB
32 Darien Wauchope SUB
44 Hiram Boateng SUB
15 Jason Law SUB
10 George Maris SUB
11 Danny Johnson SUB
Manager
Nigel Clough
Attendance: 6282
League Table
League 2 season attendance
| Date | Opponent | Home Attendance | Away Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20/07/2022 | Stevenage | 6111 | |
| 06/08/2022 | Mansfield Town | 7128 | |
| 13/08/2022 | Gillingham | 5414 | |
| 16/08/2022 | Hartlepool Utd | 4072 | |
| 20/08/2022 | Newport County | 4070 | |
| 27/08/2022 | Colchester Utd | 5041 | |
| 03/09/2022 | Leyton Orient | 6578 | |
| 13/09/2022 | Bradford City | 5864 | |
| 17/09/2022 | Salford City | 3175 | |
| 24/09/2022 | Walsall | 5845 | |
| 01/10/2022 | Barrow | 6123 | |
| 08/10/2022 | Sutton Utd | 3007 | |
| 14/10/2022 | Crewe Alexandra | 8001 | |
| 22/10/2022 | Harrogate Town | 2316 | |
| 25/10/2022 | Rochdale | 5742 | |
| 29/10/2022 | Carlisle | 6576 | |
| 01/11/2022 | Stockport County | 6800 | |
| 12/11/2022 | Swindon Town | 9425 | |
| 19/11/2022 | AFC Wimbledon | 6010 | |
| 03/12/2022 | Northampton Town | 5,601 | |
| 10/12/2022 | Grimsby Town | 5134 | |
| 26/12/2022 | Doncaster | 7033 | |
| 29/12/2022 | Barrow | 3383 | |
| 01/01/2023 | Crewe Alexandra | 5349 | |
| 07/01/2023 | Sutton United | 5368 | |
| 14/01/2023 | Walsall | 6027 | |
| 28/01/2023 | Leyton Orient | 5946 | |
| 04/02/2023 | Stockport County | 10231 | |
| 07/02/2023 | Doncaster Rovers | 5775 | |
| 11/02/2023 | Salford City | 6516 | |
| 14/02/2023 | Bradford City | 15482 | |
| 18/02/2023 | Mansfield Town | 6282 |
| 2022/23 Total home attendance | 98854 |
| 2022/23 Total away attendance | 96571 |
| 2022/23 Total attendance (Home & Away) | 195425 |
| 2022/23 Average home attendance | 6178 |
| 2022/23 Average away attendance | 6036 |
| 2022/23 Total average attendance | 6107 |
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