CELEBRATORY BIRTHDAY JOY
at 3-0, that there was still something in the game,” added Brady.
“There’s been a pattern in the past few home games where we have the wind behind us in the first half, we get the advantage and score a goal or two.
“But then the wind whips up and when it goes against you, it’s very difficult to play and get out. It’s not a case at all of us trying to sit back.
“But it’s just so hard to push up the pitch and I don’t think you feel that in the stands. It’s relentless and keeps coming back at us and when we conceded the first goal, it made it a little bit nervy.
“The penalty was extremely soft. The lad falls over, the ball bounces off his shin and the next thing you know the referee has given a penalty, but we held on and it’s a big win.”
The home side went ahead on the half-hour mark when Horsfall rose highest to meet a Sam Hoskins corner and head into the bottom corner.
And seven minutes later the same man did it again, this time arriving at the back post to convert Pinnock’s delivery from the opposite side, putting the Cobblers in control at the half-time break.
Tranmere fell further behind midway through the half through Pinnock’s curling finish after he was set up by Louis Appere.
There was to be late drama, though, as Josh McPake pulled one goal back with 15 minutes to go, stabbing in after the ball deflected into his path, and then Kane Hemmings converted from the spot on 88 minutes after Paul Lewis was penalised for a shirt tug on Rovers sub Paul Glatzel.
The visitors piled forward in pursuit of an equaliser, but came up just short in the end.
Tranmere’s season is threatening to unravel after five games without a win, four of which have been defeats seeing them drop to sixth in the table.
“I’m really disappointed with the first-half performance,” said Rovers boss Micky Mellon.
“We never got going and we didn’t fight hard enough to try and find a way of imposing ourselves on the game.
“The goals we gave away from set-pieces will always make it really difficult, but the whole performance, especially in the firsthalf, was not up to standard.
“We changed formation, but it didn’t work. I don’t regret making those changes because last weekend wasn’t good enough so things had to change and people deserved opportunities to come in and show what they can do
“We changed it again very early in the second half, but giving away the third goal made it really difficult. We showed some character to battle back late on and the subs gave us something, but we had a mountain to climb and it wasn’t enough.”