Winning run comes to an end

Last updated : 26 October 2004 By Tony Scholes

Cayne Hanley - upended in the box but no penalty given
A late change of venue, not for the first time this season, brought a chase across the Wirral with some spectators not arriving at the Clatterbridge Hospital venue until well after kick off.

Those who were late missed the home side taking the lead with an early penalty that looked somewhat harsh although keeper Michael Hale did make contact with the forward as he came out to deal with a cross.

That was after just two minutes but from then on it became a fairly even game although Tranmere having most of the play with the Clarets having some good moments but lacking penetration.

The referee seemed to be giving Tranmere most of the decisions and the point was proved on 35 minutes when he awarded the home side another penalty. There was a lot of pushing and shoving by both sets of players, and some shirt pulling.


But somehow the referee adjudged Rob Henry to be the guilty party, a decision that angered the Burnley players when it was clearly six of one and half a dozen of the other.

They slotted home the spot kick to take it to 2-0, and of all the goals the Clarets have conceded this season only three have come from open play.


We made changes at half time and that, coupled with Terry Pashley’s team talk turned the game round. We passed the ball around well and there was some excellent wing play down both flanks. It was like cheese and chalk compared to the first half.

Within a couple of minutes of the restart Cayne Hanley was upended in the penalty area, a clear penalty, but to the annoyance of everyone from Burnley the referee incredibly waved play on.


But Marc Pugh, Tom Ince and Martin Reilly were creating panic in the Tranmere ranks with pace and some quality passes. The midfield were winning more and more tackles, with Darrell Avery putting in yet another good display of strong disciplined tackling.


And we got ourselves back into it with twenty minutes to go when we pulled a goal back. It was a bit of a scrambled affair with the ball bobbling about a bit and it eventually fell to Reilly who banged it in.

It was all Burnley now and we pressed for an equaliser but it just wouldn’t come. Tranmere had a couple of half chances, both saved by Michael Hale although he didn’t know much about one of them as he instinctively tipped it over.

Tranmere’s old tricks came into play once the Clarets had pulled one back. All of a sudden the spare balls, all too evident in the first half, went missing and aside of that they started to contest every decision.

On one occasion when play had been stopped for a Burnley player to receive treatment the referee requested that Tranmere give us the ball back from the dropped ball. But no, they chose to waste some more time by hammering the ball behind the goal some forty yards. This is how it is with them, and something we have got used to in recent years.

But in the end it was a defeat for the first time since we went down 1-0 at Stockport in September, just the second defeat of the season.

Coach Terry Pashley will be disappointed that we didn’t at least get a draw, a result that our performance deserved. However we have now played our two toughest games at Stockport and Tranmere and we face the former at home next week, if the rain abates and Gawthorpe is fit for play.

The team at Tranmere was,

Michael Hale, Rob Henry, Neal Trotman, Chris McCann, Martin Reilly, Marc Pugh, Darrell Avery, Nicky Platt, Adam Jones (Tom Ince), Alex Taylor, Kyle Lafferty (Cayne Hanley).


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