Yeovil Town vs. Tranmere Rovers match preview

Last updated : 30 August 2007 By Matthew Jones
Chris Greenacre celebrates his goal against Yeovil two seasons ago
This weekend see's Tranmere on the road again in League One, as they make the long trip down south to Somerset where they will play Yeovil Town at Huish Park.

The game is one of two consecutive matches on the road for Rovers as they travel to Carlisle next Saturday, two fixtures from which they would most probably be happy to come away with three points from the six.


Yeovil Town team profile:

Formed: 1895

Ground: Huish Park

Manager: Russell Slade

Nickname: The Glovers

Season Finish 2006/07: 5th (Coca-Cola League One)


Previous Meetings:

Last season Rovers did the double over Yeovil, as they firstly won 2-1 at Prenton Park in August and then 2-0 at Huish Park in February.

On the Wirral on Saturday 19th August, Rovers secured first consecutvie home wins for the first time since November/December 2004, following a 1-0 victory over Oldham two weeks previous.

Rovers won the game thanks to goals from John Mullin and Kevin Ellison either side of a Chris Cohen volley, with Ellison scoring the opener from just outside the area on 35-minutes before Mullin won the game in the 54th minute on for Rovers as he placed his shot low into the bottom corner after a Stockdale and Shuker 1-2 had gone wrong.

On February 17th in the return game at Huish Park, Tranmere kept their play-offs hope alive as two goals from Chris Shuker earned them a 2-0 win at Yeovil.

With the half-time score being 0-0, Shuker struck in the 53rd and then 83rd minutes to secure Tranmere the win, his first goal saw Shuker netting law past the 'keeper despite a tight angle after a great run down the line before his second was fired into the roof of the net from McLaren's pass.

Vital Stats:

In four previous meetings, Tranmere have never previously been beaten by Yeovil Town

Rovers have scored two goals in every game they have played against Yeovil apart from the first meeting between the two sides when Tranmere scored four in a 4-1 win

Two meetings at Huish Park between the two sides have served up six goals

So far this season, all of Chris Greenacre's three goals have come thanks to Chris Shuker assists

Chris Greencre has scored four goals in four games against Yeovil

On This Day:


2001: One of their first home games back in Division Two (now League One), Rovers draw 2-2 with Oldham in a match watched by 8,716

1976: Tranmere lost 5-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the League Cup

1953: Tranmere hammer Rochdale 5-1 in Division Three North at home


The Form Book:

Yeovil first four games: LLWW
Tranmere first four games: LLWW

After making the play-offs last season and eventually losing in the final to Blackpool, Yeovil have made a promising start to the new season, winning two and losing two of their opening four games.

Their start to the season has in fact been one similar to Tranmere's, as they also lost their opening two games before winning their most recent two games.

On the opening day of the season, the Glovers lost 1-0 at the Galpharm Stadium courtesy of a first half strike from Luke Beckett before Russell Slade's side were dismantled 4-1 by League Two side Hereford Town in the League Cup.

However, in their most recent two games Yeovil have picked up six points from six in the league, placing them below Tranmere on goal difference only.

They picked up their first win of the season at home on August 19th as they defeated Port Vale 1-0 thanks to a goal from Cochrane goal in the 17th minute before picking up their first away win of the season last weekend as Yeovil defeated Northampton Town at Sixfields 2-1 with goals coming from Cochrane in the 26th minute before Lloyd Owusu got a 90th minute winner for the Glovers.

Tranmere too have won two and last two of their opening four games, the results coming in the same order as Yeovil's opening matches.

On the opening day of the season Rovers lost 2-1 at Prenton Park at home to Leeds, despite taking an early lead through Chris Greenacre before they were defeated by an 85th minute goal by Stockport's Matty McNeil in the Carling Cup First Round at Edgely Park four days later.

However, Rovers have followed these two defeats up with two consecutive wins, both by a 2-0 scoreline. Firstly, Rovers picked up their first win of the season away at Gillingham as goals in either half from Chris Greenacre and Steve Davies earned Tranmere an excellent 2-0 win before goals from again Greenacre and this time Chris Shuker earned Rovers a win by the same margin against Brighton and Hove Albion last weekend.

Double Hit:

Again, this part of the Match-Preview will not feature this weekend because a player who has represented both clubs could not be found.

One To Watch: Lloyd Owusu

31-year old striker Lloyd Owusu is still going strong in League Football, after only turning professional at the age of 21 when he signed for Brentford from non-league Slough for £25,000.

At Slough, Owusu had made only seven league appearances but scored nine goals (as well as one goal in the cup from two appearances) and Brentford signed the striker in 1998.

Owusu spent four years at Brentford as he scored an impressive 64 goals in 163 league games to go with nine goals in 32 cup games before he was snapped up by Sheffield Wednesday on a free-transfer in 2002.

At Wednesday, Owusu made the majority of his appearances from the bench as he was often a bit-part player for the Owls. In nearly 18 months with the club, the Ghananian forward netted ten league and cup goals in 59 appearances before moving to Reading in March 2004 after an initial loan spell with the Royals which had seen him score four times in 12 games.

At Reading, Owusu scored six times in 34 games for the club before moving to Brentford in June 2005, where he was to stay for two years and score 14 times in 55 games for the club.

In May 2007, Brentford were relegated from League One and Owusu signed for Yeovil Town on July 6th 2007. Since joining Yeovil, the power-house forward has scored twice in four games for the club.

Standing at 6.02 feet tall, Owusu wears the number nine shirt for the Glovers and whilst having an eye for goal, he is also a key man upfront for Yeovil where he will win a number of headers.

Team News:

Ronnie Moore has a selection dillema for Rovers upfront, as Calvin Zola (hamstring) and Gareth Taylor (rib) are both likely to miss the game through injury. This ould mean that Moore will start Curran upfront in a 4-4-2 formation or one of John Mullin, Adnan Ahmed or Anthony Kay will play in midfield in a 4-5-1 formation.

Jones' Prediction: Yeovil 0-1 Tranmere