Tranmere v County: Match Thread (17/02/2024)

Well what can I say after last night other than: On To Tranmere.  What can we tell about them hey?  Well they sit 18th with a record of P 32 W 11 D 4 L 17 F 48 A 48, which looks very modest, but hold on a second: when County beat them 2-0 at EP back in Oct they had got 10 points from 16 games. They fired then manager Ian Dawes back in Sept and had Nigel Adkins as Technical Director last summer, then caretaker manager and finally permanent manager in the aftermath of the County loss. 

Now if you take those first 16 games out of the equation that means since losing to County they have W 8 D 3 L 5 - which is more eye catching and, for a short while, I thought they could even flirt with the playoffs.  Mathematically they still could..... but it would be a stretch after a few recent losses.  Their H record is pretty good too - W 8 D 2 L 6 F 31 A 22, which is good enough to place them 11th in L2. 

Looking at the Ws, Ds and Ls in more detail the Ws are Harrogate (h) 3-0, Accy (h) 2-0, Bratfut (h) 2-1, FGR (h) 3-0, Gillingham (h) 3-1, Newport (h) 2-1, Swindon (h) 2-1, Salford (a) 1-5, Harrogate (a) 0-2, Notts (h) 4-2 and Grimsby (a) 1-2.  The Ds are Grimsby (h) 2-2, Sutton (a) 1-1, Mansfield (a) 2-2 and Crewe (h) 0-0.  The Ls are Barrow (h) 1-2 on opening day, MKD (a) 1-0, Salford (a) 3-4, Notts (a) 2-1, Wrexham (h) 0-1, Cole U (a) 2-0, Crawley (a) 3-2, AFC Wombles (a) 4-1, Crewe (a) 2-0, Donny (h) 1-2, Morecambe (a) 1-0, County (a) 2-0, Walsall (a) 1-0, Barrow (a) 1-0, MKD (h) 1-2, Donny (a) 2-1 and Morecambe (h) 2-3.

Now that is still fairly modest overall but a vast improvement over the first 16 games.   There are some tasty scalps in there too, mostly a clutch of playoff-flirters.  So far in 2024 they are W 2 D 1 L 4, so maybe they are still vulnerable, which is probably just as well after County's loss on Tue.

Top scorer is Ex-County favourite Connor Jennings on 10, about whom nothing need be said here.  Next up is MF Kieron Morris on 8, he has 22 goals in 161 apps for Tranmere and 15 in 143 games for Walsall at the start of his career.  Next up is Blackpool right-sided MF  loanee Rob Apter on 6.  He arrived on loan last summer, went back to Blackpool in early Jan, signed a 3 year deal with them and then returned to Tranmere to continue his apprenticeship.  He'll want some watching.  Also on 6 is fellow MF Josh Hawkes, he has 20 in 84 total games for Tranmere and 12 in 61 for Hartlepool some time ago.  Striker Charlie Jolley has 4 this term, and 8 in 32 games since joining in 2021.  A total of 5 players have scored a pair and one more has just the one.

They signed two players in the January window, Rob Apter re-signed to continue his loan as mentioned above but perhaps more eye-catching was the singing of Senegalese defensive MF Ousmane Kane on a six-month deal, with a view to a more permanent move in the summer if the deal works out to their mutual satisfaction.

So, um, yeah, this has banana skin written all over it but on the assumption that DC has given the team a rocket or two we should be good enough to win.  Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in L2:

10th placed AFC Wombles v 11th placed Morecambe
3rd placed Crewe v 8th placed Harrogate
14th placed Newport v 9th placed Gillingham
19th placed Salford v 5th placed Barrow
17th placed Swindon v 6th placed MKD
16th placed Walsall v 2nd placed Mansfield
4th placed Wrexham v 7th placed Notts County