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Conditions were not good for football, as a strong wind coupled with a lot of surface water, particularly on the Borough Road side of the pitch, made it difficult to run with the ball or pass it along the turf, but Tranmere got the better of the conditions to win their first league game since 26th October.
Ronnie Moore made on change to the side that lost that midweek game at Hartlepool, as Jennison Myrie-Williams replaced Mike Jones on the right wing, whilst Robbie Stockdale returned to the bench.
Rovers were on top from the off, as Jennison Myrie-Williams put a dangerous ball across the face of the Bournemouth area early on but it got cleared and danger was averted.
A minute later and Rovers were on the attack again, as Zola saw his effort from Stewart's poor goal kick blocked before Sherriff shot over from just inside the area after Zola had passed the ball back to the Australian.
Bournemouth had their first shot on nine minutes as Cummins shot over from inside the area after Goodison had miss-hit a clearance before Paul McLaren curled a shot over from 25-yards.
A Danny Hollands volley went over at the Kop end soon after before the pressure began to stay firmly on the Bournemouth defence, with Tranmere taking the lead on 23-minutes.
Myrie-Williams' flick-on found Greenacre on the right-wing. The Rovers striker pulled the ball back to Zola who, after originally losing the ball, battled back to take possession and then chip the 'keeper with an excellent finish from the left of the six yard box.
In their next attack four minutes later, Tranmere won a penalty and then doubled their lead with the spot kick. Zola, McLaren and Sherriff exchanged passes for Tranmere before McLaren played the ball outwide to Myrie-Williams on the right. The on-loan winger ran out the defence and after breaking into the area he was brought down by Cummins. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Chris Greenacre stepped up to take the kick, blasting the ball down the middle to score this third goal in as many games.
Bournemouth threatened to get back into the game as Pearce headed wide with a free header from a free-kick on the Tranmere left whilst the action moved down the other end a few minutes later and Myrie-Williams recieved the ball from Greenacre on the right-hand side of the penalty area. However, Myrie-Williams somehow managed to completely miss hit his shot as it went out for a throw in further up towards the half way line on the other side of the pitch than from where he'd hit it.
Soon after Greenacre came close as the ball was punched clear just as he set himself to head goalwards before Myrie-Williams saw his low shot from distance saved by Stewart as the half drew to a close.
After more heavy rain at half time, it looked as if the game might not be finished, with large areas of the pitch under standing water, making it difficult to kick the ball along the grass as it just stopped dead in the ground.
The weather was clearly effecting the match too, as niether team could get a grip of the game in the second half, with only a handful of chances falling either way in the opening few minutes of the second period.
Kay and Goodison thwarted some sharp breaks from the Bournemouth attack, before Danny Coyne made an increadible one-handed save to keep the score at 2-0.
The ball came in from the Bournemouth right and managed to work it's way into the centre of the penalty area from where Bartley hit a first time shot towards the corner of the net but Coyne, diving low to his right, made a terrific one-handed save.
Down the other end, Chorley headed on to the roof of the net at the back post from a McLaren corner before on 60 minutes Tranmere came as close as they had yet to getting a third, as Myrie-Williams picked the ball up from Zola in the penalty area and after rounding keeper Steward, he blasted the ball goalwards only for it to be brilliantly headed off the line and out for a corner.
From that corner, Steven Jennings came close with an 18-yard shot that went high and wide of the goal and out for a goal kick.
With their next attack, Tranmere scored however, with Jennings getting his second goal of the season.
Calvin Zola beat the Bournemouth offside trap and broke down the Rovers right before getting into the penalty area. The Rovers striker shot under the 'keeper who was coming out to meet him, and with the ball looking as if it was just going to drift wide of the post, Jennings slid in to put the ball into the empty net.
Rovers continued to push forward however despite their apparent comfortable advantage, and Stewart made a terrific save from Tranmere's next attack as Sherriff drilled the ball goalwards from just outside the area before just a few minutes later Stewart made a terrific reaction save as he somehow got his hands in the way of McLaren's well hit shot from eight yards out.
Coyne made a comfortable save low down on 75 minutes from Vokes before Bournemouth pulled one goal back to make the score 3-1.
Goodison, who had made a number of mistakes throughout the afternoon, played a terrible back pass towards Coyne.
Coyne, who had had a similar thing done to him against Hartlepool on Tuesday, where he also conceeded a goal, could only rush out and hit the ball straight at Pitman, and with the stray ball running across the face of goal, Pitman picked himself up and ran on to the ball before finishing into the empty net.
This gave the Bournemouth fans something to cheer about, but it could have been more, as Coyne was forced into a couple of other saves low down in the final 15 minutes.
With two minute remaining, Ronnie Moore discovered that he actually had a substitutes bench, as Robbie Stockdale replaced Ian Goodison in defence, with Curran once again failing to even make it on to the pitch.
In the end though it was a convincing win for Rovers as they showed a big improvement from the Hartlepool defeat and looked more like the team that had started the season so well.
Bournemouth however were no great opposition, but then you can only beat the team in front of you, and Rovers did just that.
Ronnie Moore got his tactics spot on today, and it was only another defensive lapse that cost Rovers the goal and a clean sheet. However, if there is anything to critisise of the manager it is that he is still not making use of his substitutes enough, even when 3-1 up.
Jones' Man Of The Match: The two men that once again stood out today for me were Jennings and Zola. Greenacre was good, but not a patch on these two, who worked brilliantly and effectively all game. Jennings looks like a completely different player from the one who was at Rovers last season whilst Zola is looking like a player who could go on to score a lot more goals this season than he has in previous years. It is hard to split the two players, but I'd probably say that Zola just shaded it today and he is the Man Of The Match.