Morecambe 0-3 Tranmere Rovers

Last updated : 25 July 2007 By Matthew Jones
Zola on target as Rovers win 3-0
Against argueably the toughest opposition they have played so far this pre-season, Rovers defeated League Two Morecambe 3-0 at Christie Park.

Rovers scored three quick goals within 12 minutes of play time as they secured a good win and moved to 15 goals in four pre-season games for the first team.

Ronnie Moore named a strong starting XI, as Danny Coyne started in goal with Sherriff, Kay, Goodison and Stockdale in defence. In midfield, Steve Davies and Mike Jones played on the wings with Jennings and McLaren in the middle, the Greenacre and Zola upfront.

Rovers started poorly and their defence could have breached early on as Morecambe got the best of the early exchanges, with Blinkhorn beating Danny Coyne but hit the post with a header after Stockdale had been beaten down the Tranmere right.

Zola shot wide for Tranmere from inside the area after around 20 minutes before Mike Jones put a weak shot wide after a great run into the area from the left-wing.

Morecambe came back strongly with Baker hitting the roof of the net before Rovers had a goal dissallowed for offside.

Calvin Zola brought the ball down in the area and cut inside the defence onto this right-foot and shot from near the penalty spot. His shot was saved well by the 'keeper but only pushed out as far as Greenacre who netted but his celebrations were cut short by the linesmans flag.

On 33-minutes however Greenacre should have been on the score sheet after missing two simple chances with three or four seconds of each other.

A counter attack, started by Ian Goodison in the centre circle was nearly finished by the Jamaican defender who saw hiw shot again pushed out to Greenacre by 'keeper Davies. However, Greenacre's quick reactions could only put the ball straight back to Davies, twice!

Davies saw a header sent away from goal before Tranmere opened the scoring in the 44th minute thanks to Chris Greenacre getting his third of pre-season, Mike Jones providing the cross which was flicked on by Zola to Greenacre who netted from close range with an acrobatic bicycle kick.

After no substitutions by Ronnie Moore, Rovers ran rampant after half time, with Davies getting on the score sheet within a minute of the re-start.

Calvin Zola brought the ball down with some good control and his back to goal before laying the ball off to Davies who carried the ball forward to the edge of the area before shooting low across the 'keeper in the corner of the net, another great goal for the striker.

Zola headed at the 'keeper from near the penalty spot soon after before Davies forced his namesake 'keeper into another save with a free-kick from 25-yards.

However soon after Zola did get his goal, with Mike Jones providing another fantastic cross to the far post where Zola scored with a diving header from a tight angle.

Rovers foot now appeared to come of the gas as they eased off and started to play a bit much long-ball football towards Zola, with Blinkhorn seeing his shot saved excellently by Danny Coyne a warning sign of what could happen if Tranmere decided to sit back.

Ben Chorley came back from injury as he replaced Goodison at centre back after 68 minutes, and he is expected to play the full 90 minutes tonight at Southport.

Ronnie Moore made two more subsitutions in the match, with Jennings and Jones replaced by Ahmed and Shuker with twelve minutes left.

Tranmere had a few more efforts, with Davies and McLaren shooting wide before McLaren saw his low shot saved by the 'keeper - all from outside the area.

In the end, it was a good win for Tranmere and they hope to continue their good form tonight at Southport (7.30pm kick off) where the likes of Mullin, Chorley, Taylor, Achterberg, Shuker and Ahmed are all expected to play close to 90 minutes.