Tranmere hosted Carlisle this afternoon for a 3pm kick-off in their latest fixture in the 2022/23 League Two season.
Ahead of the game, skipper Kane Hemmings, said, “I think barring the first half against Harrogate, we’ve been really good recently. We gave Rochdale a poor goal but, with all due respect, I don’t think they offered much more than that in the game. We’re disappointed we haven’t taken more points from the last two games.
“We’re seven unbeaten and picked up 17 points out of a possible 21 so there’s worse runs to be on. From the way we started the season to where we are now, it’s probably testament to ourselves but we’re not getting carried away at all.
“There’s good characters in the squad with a lot of fight and a lot of belief. We took a lot of confidence from winning five games in a row and it was always important how we were going to react to conceding a goal and we reacted well in the last two games.”
Match Report: Tranmere Rovers v Carlisle
| Tranmere Rovers 0 |  v  | 2 Carlisle |
| Goals | Dennis (1′, 54′ pen) | |
| Assists | Stretton (1′) | |
| HT 0-1 |
Tranmere Rovers’ unbeaten run came to an abrupt end at Prenton Park today.
The players looked tired and uninspired from the off, seemingly with no shape or plan. In under a minute, the home side was 1-0 down.
Kristian Dennis opened the scoring with less than a minute gone, with a left-footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner of Doohan’s net. He later secured three points for Carlisle when he calmly converted a penalty ten minutes into the second half.
Surprisingly, given the scoreline, Tranmere had more attempts (nine) at goal than Carlisle (six). Josh Hawkes’ left-footed shot from outside the box on the quarter hour was blocked, as was an effort from Kieron Morris ten minutes later.
Morris had another attempt saved when his header from the right side of the six-yard box was denied by Carlisle keeper, Tomas Holy.
Dynel Simeu tried a left-footed shot from the right side of the six-yard box that ended up too high.
Hawkes, Morris, and Dynel Simeu each had a crack at goal before the half time whistle blew.
An Elliott Nevitt foul resulted in the referee awarding a penalty that was neatly taken by Dennis, leaving Tranmere on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.
Tranmere host Stockport County on Tuesday 1 November for a 7:45pm kick off in their next game of the League Two season. Rovers visit Carlisle in the FA Cup on Saturday 5 November.
Match Highlights
Gallery
Fans’ Twitter Reaction
Tap or click to like birkenhead.news on Facebook
Tap or click to follow birkenhead.news on Twitter Post Match Interviews
Line-ups
Tranmere Rovers – Formation 4-4-2
1 Ross Doohan GK
2 Josh Dacres-Cogley DF
3 Ethan Bristow DF
26 Dynel Simeu DF
14 Jordan Turnbull DF
4 Lee O’Connor MF
7 Kieron Morris MF
6 Chris Merrie MF
11 Josh Hawkes MF
10 Kane Hemmings (C) FW
20 Elliott Nevitt FW
Substitutes
3 Mateusz Hewelt SUB
19 Neill Byrne SUB
18 Kyle Jameson SUB
17 Rhys Hughes SUB
8 Reece McAlear SUB
16 Jon Nolan SUB
27 Jake Burton SUB
Manager
Micky Mellon
Match Officials
Referee: Carl Boyeson
Assistants: Abbas Khan and Jake Topp
Fourth official: Nik Barnard
Carlisle – Formation 5-3-2
1 Tomas Holy GK
20 Jack Ellis DF
3 Jack Armer DF
22 Jon Mellish DF
5 Morgan Feeney (C) DF
6 Paul Huntington DF
15 Taylor Charters MF
8 Callum Guy MF
4 Owen Moxon MF
32 Jack Stretton FW
14 Kristian Dennis FW
Substitutes
30 Michael Kelly SUB
33 Duncan Idehen SUB
17 Corey Whelan SUB
27 Nicolas Bollado SUB
31 Ryan Carr SUB
29 Jayden Harris SUB
16 Tobi Sho-Silva SUB
Manager
Paul Simpson
Attendance: 6,576
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 | 6,576 |
| 2022/23 Total home attendance | 48872 |
| 2022/23 Total away attendance | 36191 |
| 2022/23 Total attendance (Home & Away) | 85063 |
| 2022/23 Average home attendance | 6109 |
| 2022/23 Average away attendance | 4524 |
| 2022/23 Total average attendance | 5316 |
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: