MELLON’S MISSION STATEMENT
Micky’s arrival bears fruit
BEAMING Micky Mellon insisted his players had answered all the questions asked of them as the Scot began his Tranmere Rovers tenure with victory over Wrexham.
The former Fleetwood and Shrewsbury manager received a rousing reception from the Prenton Park faithful before taking his place in the dugout for what was a relatively tame crossborder derby.
An embarrassing own goal from Dragons keeper Shwan Jalal gave Rovers a second-half lead before Andy Cook wrapped up the three points deep in injury time.
And a jovial Mellon said: “We’re delighted to get the victory, it’s been a tough time for the players. They’ve lost their manager and it does affect people, because a lot of them were brought here by Gary (Brabin).
“They’ve worked hard all week with Paul (Carden) and then put in a performance like that – we’ve got to be really pleased.
“At this level you’ll get asked certain questions in the game. Today it asked us, could we deal with a bit of direct play from Wrexham?
“Could we win the first headers and then get some control from the knockdowns and go and punish Wrexham? Could we shift across the pitch from side to side fast and keep the two units of four and still be a threat with the front two?
“I believe that we did all that brilliantly well today. People will say that we didn’t play like Barcelona but that might be for another day. Today we were asked a question and I thought the players were fantastic and answered it brilliantly well.”
Tranmere started the brighter. A direct run from the halfway line by Portsmouth loanee Ben Tollitt roused the home crowd before a shot from Jake Kirby was punched clear by Jalal. The Dragons stopper then held a header from Cook as Rovers seized the initiative.
Steve Jennings played a onetwo with Kirby from a corner on the half hour mark and drilled a low shot at the front post, which was pushed wide by Jalal.
Jennings then blazed one over the bar from fully 30 yards before the Tranmere captain bulldozed his way through the Wrexham penalty area, eventually clattering into Jalal and Curtis Tilt – both of whom required treatment.
Tranmere almost took the lead just before half-time when the impressive Tollitt cannoned a 25yarder on goal that smacked the crossbar with Jalal well beaten.
Rovers struggled to make inroads after the break, but when a goal did arrive, two minutes later, it was from an unlikely source. A free-kick was headed somewhat harmlessly towards goal by defender Ritchie Sutton, but, under no pressure, Jalal conspired to fumble the ball and bundle it into his own net.
Wrexham almost drew level moments later when Hamza Bencherif saw his header from a corner nodded off the line by Jay Harris.
With the game now open, a counter attack presented a golden opportunity to Cook, but after cutting inside Tilt, he shot tamely at Jalal.
The visitors were not ready to throw the towel in and responded when Jordan Evans pulled a long-range effort wide with quarter of an hour to go.
But the contest was eventually settled deep in injury time when sub Elliot Osborne fed Cook, who slammed home his seventh goal of the season, leaving Wrexham manager Gary Mills under ever-growing pressure.
He said: “I thought we had a good shape today. The lads worked really hard. It’s taken a mistake for Tranmere to go on and win the game. Forget the second goal, that doesn’t happen if it’s still 0-0. It happens, we’re not pointing the finger. We get on with it and look forward to our next game in the FA Cup.
“Mistakes happen and unfortunately it’s come at a time when we don’t want it. We were in the game, they were finding it hard to break us down. We had two or three good chances ourselves.”
STAR MAN: Ben Tollitt (Tranmere) ATT: 5,644 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Stephen Ross 7/10