Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE WILD ROVERS
Tranmere’s anger at having to play through Covid crisis
MARK PALIOS rounded on the EFL for forcing Covid-hit Tranmere to play, even though his side snatched a point with two late goals.
The Rovers chairman felt the club’s hand was forced on a day when they managed to put only five on the bench and had no back-up keeper.
Kieron Morris, late on, and Paul Lewis, in stoppage time, struck to haul back the two-goal deficit for a d raw, b u t Pa l i o s w a s adamant that they should not have been i n that position in the first place.
Rovers had two players test positive for coronavirus, four more who had to isolate, plus injuries and international call-ups that made 10 players unavailable.
But faced with an investigation if they asked for a cancellation and the possibility of disciplinar y action which could result in a 15point penalty, Palios ( below) claimed the club were in a corner.
He said: “We were told that if we had youth players, we had to play. They indicated the other games called off were on medical edical advice. We have adhered to the fullest extent of the e protocols required.
“As a consequence of
Covid, injuries and an international call-up we e had 10 players missing.
“I find it incredible that hat if you lose three players for international duty, you can call off yet i n these circumstances there isn’t more latitude given.
“They indicated that if we called the game off, the circumstances would be investigated and the p penalty for failing to fulfil a fix fixture would potentially be 15 points. We would rather take our chance on the pitch than in a disciplinary hearing.”
It was no surprise that Salford, watched by two of their owners Gary Neville and Paul Scholes (both above), roared into the lead within two minutes, courtesy of Richie Towell. They then added another on 20 minutes, when former Manchester United man James Wilson hammered home a long-range blast.
But Graham Alexander’s sid side took their foot off the p pedal, and the two late Rovers goals handed the v i sit o r s a n u n l i ke ly point. The Salford boss said: “Football is definitely not all roses. We threw away two important points. We have to fix it.”
Tra n m e re ma n a g e r Mi ke Jackson (above) said: “It’s been a tough week but the remaining players reacted superbly. We were the better team in the second half. “I told the players they had nothing to fear and to believe in themselves.”
Hladky 7, Touray 6, Turnbull 6, Eastham 6, Golden 7, Lowe 6, Gibson 6 (Elliott 80), Towell 7 (Denny 70, 5), Wilson 8 (Dieseruvwe 72, 5), Henderson 7, Hunter 6
Murphy 6, Nelson 6, Ellis 6, Clarke 6, Monthe 7, Spearing 6, Lewis 7, Woolery 6, Morris 7, Khan 6, Burton 5 (Walker-rice 47, 6)