Comparisons on the Wirral

Ten days after my first visit to Prenton Park I was back there again, but this time it was for a Tranmere Rover’s Men’s game to see how the fan’s experience compares between Men’s and Women’s games at the same ground. Short answer to that is that the Men’s game was far more relaxing and enjoyable from this fan’s perspective because the staff put on a lot more events around the ground at the Men’s game for fans to enjoy.

I got there about an hour in advance of kick-off and straight away I realised that there would be a lot more fans at this match, it was busy. The shop which doubles up as the ticket office was open this time and the queue for tickets was long down one wall of the stadium. When I got to actually buying tickets the lady serving me asked which stand I wanted to be in and then just gave me the top ticket off the pile for that stand without any further thought as to how far to the side of that stand that ticket would put me or how bad the view would be. I chose to be in the ‘Kop – lower’ section so I would have the same view of the match that I had for the women’s game ten days prior.

However, the ticket I was given was right on the far side of the stand under one of the few parts of the kop stand that is not under cover. This was extremely inconvenient as it was raining at the time and it was made even more inconvenient a placement when a group of 15-20 young boys and girls chose to sit in the seats in front of me. The view that would give people looking towards that area of the stand was one I was not comfortable with and with the weather as it was too I made the choice to move further up the stand before kick-off.

Just a couple of quick notes on the shop itself. As you enter there is a bust on the desk in front of you, this is a bust of legendary club owner and chairman Peter Robinson who saved Tranmere for insolvency when he took over in the 90’s and set the foundations of the modern day club. Also, on the wall outside the shop is a blue plaque to Everton legend Dixie Dean who was born on the Wirral and began his career with 2 seasons at Tranmere before moving across the river to break records with the Toffees.

Having got my ticket and with a little time left before kick-off I decided to investigate the big white tent up the stairs opposite the shop. It turned out to be a beer tent complete with a bar and a screen that was showing the celebrations of the Chelsea players at the conclusion of their comprehensive win over Norwich in the early EPL kick-off that day. I didn’t find out just how comprehensive their victory had been till I got inside the ground and the announcer told the whole stadium over the loud speakers. Better luck for the rest of the season Norwich, but now lets get back to Tranmere and their game against the visiting Northampton Town.

Whilst the ground was far fuller than last week there were still many empty seats for me to move too. At least all 3 home stands were 75% full for this game though, the 4th stand at the opposite end of the game from the ‘Kop’ was set aside for the travelling Northampton Town fans. There were not many Northampton fans that had made the trip, but those who did make the journey did their best to add to the atmosphere.

For anyone looking for programmes in the ‘Kop’ stand they can be found at a hole in the wall in the gap between banners celebrating Tranmere’s Division 3 playoff victory in 1991 and their League Cup semi-final first leg success in 1994.

Before kick-off the stadium announcer read out the visitors squad for the match far before kick-off, then made the mistake of attempting to read out the home team’s as the teams were taking the field and as a result he was predictably drowned out by the fans cheering their teams out. I was reduced to having to read the numbers off the players backs as they took their positions for kick-off. I managed to note them all correctly, but having had to use the same method in midweek too it did not put me in the right mood to enjoy the match.

Both teams were in the playoff places in League 2 going into this game, with Tranmere sitting 5th and 1 point ahead of Northampton Town in 6th. It’s lucky there is a table in the programme to tell you this though as you would not have known of their lofty league positions from the quality of the football in the first half. I had myself another first half snoozefest. Thankfully though this was not to be back to back 0-0 games for me as things did improve in the second half.

The first 15 minutes of the game were dreadful though, with a complete lack of quality on show. The first exciting moment of the match came in the 16th minute when a visiting player shanked an attempted clearance over the top of the stand and out of the stand. That woke things up a little and clearly other players paid attention to the effect it had as another ball went the same way 20 minutes later.

The first proper chance of the match came in the 19th minute and it went to the home side. The ball fell to Liam Feeney just outside the box and he hit it sweetly on the volley but it sailed just over the bar. This chance however appeared to serve as a wake up for the visitors as they fashioned their first threatening chance just 2 minutes later. This one fell to Sam Hoskins 20 yards out and his shot was deflected wide for a corner to Town. They almost scored direct from the corner, but the Rover’s keeper managed to claw it out from under his bar and he also managed to get it to rebound off a Town player for a goal kick. The Northampton players were not happy with this call by the ref and for his protestations Fraser Horsfall was the first player of the match to be booked for dissent, he would not be the last. In the 43rd minute with half time on the horizon Paul Lewis followed his teammate into the book for the same offense. This came the minute after Town had missed a glorious chance to take the lead. A free header from 6 yards out in the centre of the goal was set wide of the post when it looked far easier to score.

Tranmere did actually have the ball in the net from a corner in the 26th minute only to see it chalked off as the ref had seen a foul on the Town keeper in the build up to the goal and gave a free kick to the visitors for this. This was Tranmere’s last decent chance of the half as Northampton took the momentum from this reprieve and went on the attack.

One of these attacks ended up with Aaron McGowan being found completely clear and alone in the box, just to the right side of the pitch from goal. He took a touch to control the ball though which gave Tranmere defenders the chance to get back into position and put him under enough pressure that he swerved his shot into the side netting. This was in the 28th minute and I don’t know id this did any damage to the ball, but 2 minutes later it had burst and needed replacing.

Town had many attacks on the break as the half came to an end and it looked like they would score in the final minute of the half when they had 2 players in space in the box to aim for but the cross was not of enough quality to pick out either, the ball then broke to a Town player 15 yards out in the centre of the box but he skied his shot. That was the final chance of the match and when the whistle blew for half time that made it more than 135 of football without a goal for me. My expectations for the second half were not high.

Half time did little to help my mood as the queues for food were extremely long and the service was just slow enough that I missed the first minute of the second half. Also, the food stand I had queued for was out of almost all food by the time I got to the front of the queue. They only had hotdogs left at that point and having queued for so long I was just hungry enough to go with it. I was not impressed by either the lack of choice or the speed of service though. The staff were very apologetic about the wait though and very polite.

This annoyance at half time and my recent luck with exciting football and goals left me with few expectations for the second half, but thankfully I had a half of football on my hands that delivered both excitement and finally some goals.

The half started with Tranmere being much more attacking and positive with their play. It looked like this would be Tranmere’s half, but Northampton were getting a lot of joy on the break and it was on one of these breaks that they gave the game the goal it so badly needed. Northampton broke quickly and got from one end of the pitch to the other in no time flat. I know the goal was scored from the centre of the box by Northampton’s number 19, Kion Etete but only because I was told this by other supporters around me who saw the goal scored. I missed the actual goal as at the time it happened I had been distracted by the chants of the Tranmere fans who had truly begun to believe in their teams chances of winning.

That goal was scored by the visitors in the 52nd minute and it spurred Tranmere’s manager Micky Mellon into action with the first substitution of the game 7 minutes later as Kieron Morris was replaced by Mark Duffy. This substitution worked wonders for Rovers as they went on to have the most dominant 5 minutes of football I have seen from any team in a long time. They put the Town goal under siege with many great chances to score and it was only with a great team effort from the visitors that were able to maintain their lead.

This incredible Tranmere momentum was brought to an abrupt halt minutes later when Northampton finally managed to break out of their own half and break down the other end of the pitch. This break was the most consequential of the match as at the end of it the Tranmere goalkeeper misjudged his timing as he looked to nip the ball off the toes of the attacker in the box. Contact was made and in one of the easiest decisions of the match the ref had no choice but to give Northampton a penalty which was coolly tucked away by Sam Hoskins for Town’s second goal of the match. This was a goal from which Tranmere never recovered. It was also the first goal I’d actually seen in hours of football so I couldn’t help a little smile, thankfully this was not spotted by the distraught Tranmere fans all around me.

Two Northampton players were booked for dissent in the first half and now with Tranmere 2-0 down and essentially out of the match it was time for one of their players to follow that example.

In the 71st minute Tranmere had a player taken out by an agricultural tackle on their right whilst on the attack, but no freekick was given with the ref instead deciding to play advantage. When the ball went out of play seconds later without any advantage being gained it appeared to go out off a town player, but a goal kick was given. This series of events was too much for Tranmere’s Jay Spearing whose protestations to the ref completed the hattrick of players booked for dissent. He was the only Tranmere player to be booked all match.

The only times later in the game that Tranmere looked like getting back into the match all came within the next 7 minutes. The first of these came in the 75th minute when Rovers managed to catch Northampton on the break and get a player free on the right side of the penalty area, but the first effort was saved by the Town keeper and the rebound was blasted harmlessly over the bar. The next two came a minute later when an ambitious drive across goal was deflected out for a Rovers corner, from the corner the ball was directed goalward and only stayed out with the assistance of the crossbar. The ball then bounced clear off the top of a defender’s head, who knew very little about his timely clearance.

The final notable Tranmere chance and the final chance of note for either team came just a few minutes later in the 78th minute of the match. This one came through Ryan Watson, who had only been substituted onto the pitch a minute earlier. He put in a testing cross from the Rovers right that wrong footed everyone in the penalty area and almost went straight in to the back of the net, almost. Everyone was wrong footed by the cross except Liam Roberts in the Northampton goal. He managed to get into just the right position to claw the ball clear from the underside of the bar before the whole of the ball had crossed the line. Many Tranmere fans thought the ball had crossed the line, but they were unfortunately mistaken.

The final 12 minutes of the match elapsed without any great excitement on the pitch as Northampton engaged in a game of keep ball. This is a viable game management tactic but, as with all game management tactics, it was no fun to watch as a neutral spectator. The only breaks in this game of keep ball were a couple of Northampton substitutions to ear up more time. This may have backfired though as their were 7 minutes of added time at the end of the 90, unfortunately though all that happened in this added time was more Northampton keep ball. This was how the game ended and thankfully my previous knowledge of the journey back made it a lot easier to do this time around.

This blog was delayed due to a very week taking care of other parts of my life, so much so that the next game is tomorrow when I am off into Lancashire for a visit to Burnley’s Turf Moor stadium.