Tranmere 3-1 Brentford

Last updated : 05 May 2007 By Matthew Jones
Rovers finish season on high
The curtain was drawn on another season for Tranmere Rovers this afternoon, as they beat already relegated Brentford 3-1 at Prenton Park, mainly down to a splendid hatrick from 17-year old Craig Curran.

Ronnie Moore made two changes to the side which drew 1-1 at Crewe last weekend, as Ben Hinchcliffe replaced the suspended Gavin Ward in goal whilst Craig Curran replaced Jason McAteer in a 4-4-2 formation.

The game couldn't have started better for Tranmere as they scored just five minutes into the game. Zola saw his shot blocked but the ball fell straight to Curran who hit the ball first time into the top left-hand corner of the net with his right-foot from near the penalty spot.

Two-minutes later and the game got even better for Rovers, as Craig Curran got his second goal of the game, courtesy of a huge deflection.

Steve Davies had the ball on the left before finding Curran, this time just outside the area, who again turned and shot, with the ball heading towards the right-hand side of the goal before taking a deflection and going into the bottom left, leaving Nathan Abbey with no chance.

Not long after, Calvin Zola had a 25-yard drive saved well by Abbey who just about dealt with the power of the shot before Harrison saw his volley blocked and go for a corner and then Zola had another effort cleared from the set-piece.

With 16-minutes gone however, Zola's season came to an end as he limped off for a second game running and he was replaced by Chris Greenacre.

The striker was in to the action almost immediately, as he twice shot wide from the edge of the area, firstly from a Shukers pass and then from Davies' ball although he was flagged offside for the second effort.

As Brentford finally put some pressure on the Tranmere defence, Ian Goodison lived dangerously as he firstly headed the ball just wide of the goal and then sliced a clearance just past the post.

However on 35-minutes, Callum Willock did get Brentford a goal with their first shot on target. A corner was swung in and Willock flicked the ball over Hinchcliffe, who had otherwise been redundant in the game and had no chance to save the shot.

But less than two minutes later, Craig Curran completed a magnificent hatrick and restored Tranmere's two goal lead with easily the best of his three goals.

Hinchcliffe hit a long pass towards Greenacre, who flicked the ball on to Curran. The 17-year old hit the ball with his first touch from just inside the area, lobbing it over the advancing Abbey into the top right corner of the goal, this shot with his left-foot.

Abbey however did pull off a fantastic save minutes later from Greenacre's acrobatic shot after good build up play from Curran and Shuker whilst Paul Brooker bought the half to an end with a volley wide of Hinchcliffe's goal.

The second half saw very little action, although much of the game was once again played inside the Brentford half of the field.

Davies saw his shot blocked before Sherriff also had a goalbound effort deflected away from goal after a wonderful run inside the penalty area before Brentford saw three chances all go wide, two from Alex Rhodes and one from Joe Keith with a free-kick which just needed a touch to be sent into the net.

Ronnie Moore made the final two subsitutes of the Tranmere season, as Chris Shuker was replaced by Jason McAteer and then Kevin Ellison replaced Craig Curran, who got a standing ovation from the Tranmere faithful and now has four goals in four games for Tranmere.

Hinchcliffe was finally forced into a save on 88-minutes, catching from a Peters shot from close range whilst Davies saw another effort deflected out for a corner late on.

The players did their traditional end of season lap of honour at the end of the game as Tranmere ended the season on a high with things looking bright for the future.

Jones' Man Of The Match: There can only be one winner today. Craig Curran runs away with the award after a magnificent performance which saw him score his first career hatrick in his first start upfront for the team.