Cheltenham Town 1-1 Tranmere Rovers

Last updated : 22 September 2007 By Matthew Jones
Greenacre goal not enough for Rovers
Tranmere Rovers picked up a point at Cheltenham today in Coca-Cola League One as a first half goal from Chris Greenacre, his forth of the season, was later cancelled out by a header from Caines.

Ronnie Moore made on change to the Tranmere side that started against Luton Town last Friday as John Achterberg replaced the injured Danny Coyne in goal, meaning Shane McWeeny was on the bench for Rovers. Despite scoring against Luton last week, Anthony Kay and Craig Curran were also only on the subs bench.

There was a scrappy start to the game as niether side managed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and break the opposition down.

Attempts on goal which headed towards the target were few and far between early on, with Lindegaard and Spencer miss-firing for the home side whilst after a Steve Davies shot had been deflected out for a corner and then the resulting set-piece had been put out for another corner, Rovers left-back Shane Sherriff headed well over the bar.

Ben Chorley tried an ambitious volley to say the least from about 20-yards soon after and sent the ball into orbit as it cleared the stand by about 25-metres before the action came back down the other end as Cheltenham again put chances wide or high of the target, Lindegaard and Finnigan the culprits on these occassions.

Paul McLaren sent a free-kick straight to Robin's 'keeper Shane Higgs whilst Tranmere fans began to get nervous down the other end as Cheltenham had a string of corners but couldn't get past the Tranmre back line.

On 34-minutes, despite having a quiet half, Chris Greenacre popped up to give Tranmere a 1-0 lead with a magnificent finish.

John Achterberg hoofed the ball clear for Rovers and after Cheltenham centre-back Gavin Caines had miss-judged the bounce of the ball, it fell to Chris Greenacre who thumped the ball past Shane Higgs from a tight angle to give Rovers the lead.

Connor and Bird missed chances to level the score for the home side before the half time whistle as Tranmere headed in at the break leading the game.

Tranmere had the chance to double their lead just three minutes into the second period but Davies headed over from Paul McLaren's cross before John Ward's side levelled the game with their next chance.

A dubious and probably slightly generous free-kick was awarded Cheltenham's way right on the bye-line near the corner flag on the right-hand side of the goal. Lindegaard took the set-piece for the Robins and he floated the ball over to the un-marked Caines who jumped above everyone to send an excellent header under John Achterberg, who had no chance, and into the goal.

Cheltenham now siezed the innitiative and it was them who looked most likely to win the game if any team was as for the next few minutes the game was played almost fully in the Tranmere half of the field.

Damien Spencer missed one chance that the home side had, whilst another shot from just outside the area was blocked by the legs of Ben Chorley when it appeared to be heading for the bottom corner at a fair pace.

The game was now becoming more open however as both sides pushed for the win. Steven Jennings had a chance for Rovers as the midfielder skipped past one defender in the Cheltenham penalty area by dropping his shoulder before shooting towards the bottom corner and seeing his shot saved by the legs of Higgs and the ball bounce out for a corner.

Achterberg was forced into action by Spencer and Connor for Rovers, albeit the Dutchman making comfortable saves, whilst Chris Shuker asked a more difficult queston of Higgs as he forced the 'keeper into a save on 66-minutes whilst Gareth Taylor had an effort blocked when on it's way to goal from inside the penalty area.

On 70-minutes Ronnie Moore made a double subsitution for Tranmere as the hero's against Luton Town, Anthony Kay and Craig Curran, were finally introduced into the action, replacing Steven Jennings and Gareth Taylor in midfield and attack.

Rovers now looked to up the pressure on the Cheltenham back-line and the addition of Curran to the field once again seemed to spark Rovers into life.

The Wirral side had a number of chances but kept missing the target, as after Steve Davies had cut inside and shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area on 74-minutes, Anthony Kay vollied over the Rovers and then Kay had another effort but saw his deflected shot drift agonisingly wide of the post.

Rovers final meaningful chance of the match fell to Paul McLaren who unfortunatly shot over once again for Tranmere from just outside the area as full-time approached.

The game then ended 1-1 and it is probably a sign of how far things have come for Rovers since the end of last season that the fans, and maybe players and coaches, are dissapointed to have only picked up a point from todays game.

Cheltenham were far from the best side Rovers have played this season, but on the day Tranmere failed to produce anything like their best and in the end a draw was the fair result.

Despite calling for Rovers to make use of the excellent playing surface, Ronnie Moore watched his side often hoof the ball upfield or try too many pretty little flicks and touches when really they would have been better keeping the ball on the floor and passing it around.

When the ball did find it's way to the wingers it was again a case of holding on to the ball for too long as for most of the game the two full-backs dealt comfortably with what Davies and Shuker had to throw at them.

Jones' Man Of The Match: Gareth Taylor put in a much improved performance I felt for Rovers as he won a number of headers in attack whilst the two-central midfielders were once again solid. Stockdale was again decent at full-back, as was Sherriff whilst Goodison put in his usual brick-wall performance. Today's man of the match though goes to Ben Chorley, who was excellent for Tranmere today in defence. The defender won pretty much every ball that came his way in the air whilst his tackling was good through-out.