Mellon on warpath as Rovers let it slip

MICKY Mellon admits his Tranmere players need to get better at defending after seeing them slump at Burton.

Rovers battled back to trail 3-2 but ultimately got nothing from the game because of their poor defending.

Mellon said: “We got it back to 3-2 and their keeper makes a good save, but then we lose another cheap goal and that is the disappointing thing. It is stuff that we work on all of the time but we have to keep trying to get better at it.”

A home game with Blackpool today will give Mellon’s players the chance to atone and the manager wants to see better than he did at Burton.

He said: “If you think that we are going to score twice here at Burton you would think you were going to get some kind of result.

“But some of the defending for the goals just wasn’t good enough over the course of the game.

“Overall they always looked a threat against our back four and they picked up enough balls in midfield and everybody else has seen the same as I have seen, but I have to say it was a very patchy performance. We needed to be better in certain moments.”

Albion deservedly went in front after 12 minutes. Scott Fraser won possession from Kieron Morris and he was there at the finish to round off a flowing move that allowed Lucas Akins to set him up from six yards out.

Rovers drew level when Morgan Ferrier fired home after Neil Danns’ header had hit a post.

Akins struck against his former side after 50 minutes, firing low through a crowded six-yard box.

Burton had daylight when Boyce volleyed home his first of the afternoon from beyond the far post after excellent work from Akins and Fraser.

Morris took just four minutes to reduce the deficit, driving low inside the near post, but Boyce’s nearpost finish four minutes from time clinched the points.

Burton boss Nigel Clough, whose side go to Accrington today, said: “Our performance from start to finish was brilliant. We were a little bit hard done by with the two goals that we conceded.

“A couple of freekicks in the build-up to them, that weren’t, got them back in the game but I thought some of our attacking play, with 20-odd shots again and the quality of the goals, was excellent.”