Tranmere 0, Oldham Athletic 1: Latics show mean streak

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER: Athletic forward Craig Davies attempts to hold off a Tranmere player.

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YOU can say what you want about Ronnie Moore — and, let’s face it, most people do — but he doesn’t half tell it like it is.

He’s a good bloke who did a decent job at Boundary Park. And now that I’ve complimented the man Latics fans love to hate, please don’t throw away your paper in disgust. Or gun me down in the street.

Entering the press room after Saturday’s game, the Tranmere boss greeted familiar faces from Oldham with words which can’t actually be repeated here but amounted to: “Aye aye lads, nice to see you. You must wish you could play us every week.”

And he was right, for there’s something about Tranmere which brings out the best in Athletic. They are the kryptonite to Ronnie’s Superman, the sunlight to his vampire, the pain in the backside to his team who were doing quite nicely until you lot came along and ruined it. Again.

Athletic’s fourth consecutive win against Rovers saw them reclaim top spot in League One and was earned by a blood-and-guts performance which proved they can mix it with opponents, as well as outplay them.

It’s still too soon to predict anything so lofty as promotion, but a record of 13 points out of 15 is a great platform on which to build.

Defensively they showed terrific attitude, and it was even a centre-half who pinched the glory as Reuben Hazell scored the only goal against one of his former clubs.

Tranmere held a 100-per-cent home record until their bogey team loomed into view sporting a mean expression. And there will be plenty of visitors to Prenton Park who leave with nothing this season.

Here we had two close rivals producing drama and entertainment, not that referee Andy Hall showed any interest whatsoever in letting them do just that.

Athletic manager John Sheridan was sent to the stands and 10 players were booked. No doubt Mr Hall’s approach was well intentioned but, like the rictus smile of an over-keen receptionist in her first week in the job, it wore very thin, very quickly.

Adding extra shine to Athletic’s triumph, they achieved it without striker Lee Hughes, who had been directly involved in every one of the 10 goals scored this season while he himself was on the pitch.

To recap, against Millwall Hughes won a penalty, provided a cross and earned the decisive free-kick; at Leeds he set up both goals; against Cheltenham he scored all three before going off; and at Colchester he provided both assists.

That’s some contribution, but Athletic were such a focused unit that the loss of one link didn’t weaken the chain.

Craig Davies came back in, ran himself into the ground and gave Tranmere’s defence problems, displaying something much closer to his form of last season.

Athletic took a while to move through their gears and Tranmere, who didn’t play route-one football by any stretch of the imagination, spent part of the game as the brighter attacking side.

But once Athletic began to flow, so did the chances, and another big away crowd would have had even more to cheer if it weren’t for a string of saves by home ’keeper Danny Coyne.

The Moore-baiting started long before kick-off, but Athletic fans could have been silenced after 12 minutes as Tranmere captain Antony Kay was left unmarked at a setpiece.

Coyne thwarted Davies at the other end, while big Bas Savage (now with bright blue hair) forced Mark Crossley to keep out his 25-yard drive with a trailing arm.

Exploratory jabs had been landed, but there was a lack of punch from either side until Athletic broke through following Kay’s foul on Mark Allott just outside the box.

Their attempt to play an intricate free-kick didn’t work, but the loose ball was sent back in by Neal Eardley and Hazell rose to head only his seventh league goal in almost 240 appearances.

Athletic were inches from adding a quick second as one of Sean Gregan’s more emphatic 60-yard clearances had Coyne back-pedalling furiously before it landed on the roof of the net — the ’keeper looked beaten.

Tranmere rallied before the break, but Eardley’s superb challenge denied Craig Curran and Chris Shuker fired at Crossley from close range.

Athletic re-emerged as the dominant force, with midfield man Danny Whitaker skimming the bar before Andy Liddell’s cross rebounded off the woodwork.

There was no sitting back from Sheridan’s men, who attacked with purpose on both flanks and closed down their opponents with noticeably more speed than during the first half.

Athletic’s most fluent move came after 69 minutes as they engineered space inside the box and Coyne pulled off a flying save from Davies.

The ball looped across to Chris Taylor, only for his goalbound follow-up to be blocked by team-mate Whitaker.

Crossley denied Edrissa Sonko, but there were further Coyne heroics after the impressive Eardley unleashed a volley from 25 yards.

By now referee Hall had lost all respect from the players — the more cards he issued, the more they just did their own thing — but Athletic were grateful to the officials when Steve Jennings’ effort was disallowed for offside 10 minutes from time.

The scare proved a one-off as Athletic regained control and went close to doubling their lead on three occasions, twice through Taylor and once through Whitaker.

Six minutes of injury time failed to unsettle the visitors as a flying start to the season scaled even greater heights.




Players’ response pleases Sheridan



JOHN SHERIDAN was delighted with his team’s second-half performance in the North-West derby clash at Tranmere.



Athletic held firm to defend Reuben Hazell’s 35th-minute goal and they are now top of the table, ahead of Carlisle on goal difference, five games into the season.

Sheridan said: “It’s good to have different people scoring and it was a great ball in from Neal Eardley, but at half-time I wasn’t happy with the way we were playing.

“Even though we were 1-0 up, it was probably the worst we’ve played this season and I asked the lads for a response.

“That’s what they gave me because we were excellent in the second half and controlled the game well.

“Tranmere had one or two little chances, but we upped our game, created opportunities and kept the ball.

“Tranmere are a strong side, especially at home, and they made it hard for us, so I’m very pleased to get three points.

“It’s early days, but I’ve told the lads to enjoy their weekend again because it’s good to be top of the league.

“We had already shown in previous games that people were fighting for each other and, as I keep saying, if you have eight or nine playing well together you will always get decent results.

“Each and every one of them battled well. We’ve got off to a great start and we’re in a good position, but that’s all it is — a very good start.”

Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore said: “It’s like somebody up there has decided we aren’t going to win against Oldham.

“We were the better side in the first half and Oldham shaded the second, so I think a draw would have been a fair result.

“Two big decisions went against us because they scored from a dodgy free-kick and there’s no way in the world it was offside when we put the ball in the net.

“We would have won easily if Sean Gregan hadn’t been playing, but he bossed and bullied one or two of our lads. Gregan was the best player on the park.”