Mission Impossible

Last updated : 19 April 2008 By Matthew Jones
It's all over
After being handed a lifeline by todays opponents on Tuesday night, any Tranmere Rovers fan would have thought that Ronnie Moore's men would have been raring to go in this game as they looked to claw some points back on Leeds United.

However, this match pittered out into one of those typical end of season affairs, as both sides appeared to lack effort and the will to win in what turned out to be a fairly boring match.

Ronnie Moore made one enforced change to the Tranmere side, as the suspended Paul McLaren was replaced in the team by Ben Chorley as Antony Kay moved into midfield. Niggling injuries to Jennison Myrie-Williams, Steve Davies, Calvin Zola and Adnan Ahmed meant there were places on the bench for Mike Jones, John Mullin and for the first time in a league match, Terry Gornell.

From the off, the supporters inside the Galpharm Stadium could see this match could well become a boring and somewhat tedious match, as "attacks" failed to result in any shots on target in the opening ten or so minutes.

Tranmere had the first real chance on the fifteen minute mark as Chris Shuker floated a free-kick into the box and the ball found it's way to Ben Chorley. The big centre-back volleyed the ball goalwards, only for Huddersfield defender Mirfin to block the bouncing effort.

At the other end, Town had a couple of attacks which, like at the other end, mainly came to nothing, with Ben Chorley commanding in the air as he won a number of headers as Huddersfield played the long ball game, whilst on the one occasion the home side did play the ball on the floor, Andy Booth crossed across goal, but Kamara just couldn't quite reach to stab the ball home.

Coyne had to catch a few simple crosses in the Tranmere goal as the Huddersfield wide men failed to find their targets whilst Antony Kay just couldn't get the ball under control in time to shoot 25-yards from goal at the other end, with the ball eventually being forcing away.

Huddersfield however perhaps should have done better with one free-kick, as after a foul had been commited on the Tranmere right, a free-kick was curled in towards the Tranmere goal mouth and Booth rose unchallanged to head the ball, but couldn't quite connect. Any touch from the veteran striker and it was a goal, however, fortunately for Danny Coyne and Tranmere, the ball landed nicely in the goalkeeper's arms.

The closest Tranmere came in this rather unexciting period of the match was from a corner when Ian Goodison headed well wide.

Indeed, the game was so scrappy and so poor that the first chance didn't come until after the half hour mark. At least, however, it did fall to the away side, as after great build up play on the Tranmere left, Ian Moore played a clever ball "round the corner" and through the Huddersfield defence to Chris Shuker, who's first time left-footed shot was well saved by Glennon by his near post.

Time and time again though, attacks came to nothing as heavy touches allowed defenders to nip in and clear the ball, or long balls forward went to knowbody but the goalkeeper.

Coyne's only involvement was to pick up the wasted possession from Huddersfield on several occasions, whilst at the other end, Glennon had to come off his line a couple of times to smother the ball, with Rovers coming closest when Moore flicked-on Shuker's pass with his head to Greenacre, but the ball just ran away from the striker and Glennon came out to claim.

The final chance of the half came on the stroke of half time, when Steven Jennings saw a 25-yard volley deflected, either that or he miss-hit it, and Glennon comfortably saved.

The second half was to be similar to the first, although Huddersfield would see more of the possession and ultimately more chances than they had in the opening 45-minutes.

It took them just three minutes to register their first shot as Booth forced Coyne into a save with a header from close range before an Ian Moore header went well over from Shuker's cross at the other end.

Goodison then did brilliantly to block Schofield's shot before Coyne saved from Williams, however, on 61-minutes, Huddersfield took the lead and it was game over for Tranmere's play-off hopes.

The goal was a scrappy one, and indeed Tranmere fans at the other end of the ground struggled to see what had really happened. Apparently, Schofield strolled through the Rovers defence and shot from a tight angle at goal. His shot was initially saved by Coyne, but the ball broke away from the Tranmere goalkeeper and rolled across goal, where the waiting Andy Booth scored the easiest goal of his career, tapping the ball into the empty net.

From then on, the game really didn't change much. There was still little action in front of either goal, with the final ball being a real problem for Tranmere.

In the 29-minutes following the goal, Rovers had a number of corners, but every time Chris Shuker failed to beat the first man with some awful deliveries, leaving aerial threats Ben Chorley and Antony Kay particularly annoyed.

On 71-minutes, Tranmere could have at least managed a shot on goal, but failed, as a goalmouth scramble saw the ball fall to an unsuspecting Greenacre but a heavy touch saw the ball run away from him and out of the area.

Curran and Mullin (who, in a bizarre substitution by Ronnie Moore, played on the left-wing) replaced Moore and Sherriff, but for some reason, niether Mike Jones nor hot-prospect Terry Gornell got their chance to show the world, well, League One, their talents.

Two minutes after the change, Coyne made a great save to deny Schofield who had been set free of the Rovers defence, whilst at the other end Huddersfield 'keeper Glennon continued reading his newspaper. The deckchair and sunglasses weren't out though, it just wasn't that type of weather.

After three minutes of injury time, the referee blew his whistle to end the match, and with Leeds having won at Millwall, he brought Tranmere's play-off chances to an end.

Rovers though deserved nothing on the day. They were just too poor in the Huddersfield half of the field, with the midfield and attack in particular showing nothing that indicated they wanted to score.

Jones' Man of the Match: Tranmere's defence was reasonably strong on the day, with Chorley commanding in the air and Goodison commanding on the floor. However, today's Man of the Match was again Andy Taylor, who put in an excellent shift at left-back.