Tranmere Rovers 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 0

Last updated : 20 December 2003 By Footymad Previewer

Tranmere Rovers produced a battling performance to see off promotion chasing Brighton and continue their move up the division two table.

It seemed that Rovers had lost their opportunity when they missed a 59th minute penalty but they made no mistake when awarded a second spot kick nine minutes from time.

It was a defence dominated affair in difficult conditions. Albion goal machine Leon Knight hardly got a look in and it was left to Paul Watson and Chris McPhee to bring the best out of home keeper John Achterberg.

Central midfielder Richard Carpenter turned out to be the Brighton villain conceding both their penalties.

The first was in the 59th minute when he handled a cross by Iain Hume but he had been put under tremendous pressure through the antics of keeper Gareth Roberts who was caught in possession trying to dribble the ball clear.

Roberts made amends with a diving save to turn aside the spot kick by skipper Micky Mellon.

But then Richard Carpenter was judged to have handled a Ryan Taylor cross in the 81st minute and this time Taylor accepted the shooting responsibility.

The midfielder had turned in a fine performance after replacing the injured Tyrone Loran after only six mintues. He fired home into his left hand corner for his first goal of the season.

"It was a game which had 0-0 written all over it but we have scraped through to another win and we have got to be happy," said Tranmere manager Brian Little. "We are working hard with a good attitude and tremendous spirit." Brighton boss Mark McGhee said: "It was a game that we did not deserve to lose. We put in a tremendous amount of effort but we did not create enough clear-cut chances."