Latics suffer Lowe blow

HIGH KICK . . . Athletic striker Adam Rooney challenges Tranmere Rovers defender Ian Goodison for the ball at Boundary Park on Saturday.

Athletic 0, Tranmere 1
HISTORY repeated itself on Saturday at Boundary Park.

Athletic fielded players called Albert and Sidney, names not in common usage for at least a century, while their manager Lee Johnson possessed an old-fashioned smartness in a natty waistcoat.

Crisps were ‘buy one, get one free’ at the food kiosks at the ground, effectively reducing them to something near the price they used to be back when they came in see-through bags.

And Ronnie Moore again left his old stomping ground wearing a smile as wide as the Queensway Tunnel, thanks to a smash-and-grab victory which had thudding echoes of the recent meeting of the teams in March.

That was Rovers’ last-but-one win in League One. It also featured a similarly preposterous penalty decision — or rather, non-decision — when Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro high-fived the ball in the penalty area in full view of an assistant referee who kept his flag facing south.

Even that — the most blatant handball since William Webb Ellis broke ranks — pales when compared to referee Eddie Ilderton’s aberration at Boundary Park on Saturday, round about 4.53pm.

In the third minute of added time at the end of a game seemingly destined to finish scoreless despite Athletic’s clear superiority, particularly in the first half, an incident happened which sent Johnson apoplectic in the technical area — and which sent Moore giddy with mischievous delight.

Mark Oxley ran out of his goal to punch the ball clear of danger and as Ryan Lowe arrived a split-second later, he tripped over the goalkeeper’s arms. The barely believable result: a penalty for Tranmere, which Lowe coolly rolled home to spark wild celebrations among visiting players and 586 travelling fans.

You can only hope Ilderton winces as much when he watches it back as every fair-minded individual in the ground did first time around.

Moore said it was “nailed-on”. Nailed on to the corpse of footballing justice, Ronnie. Not on your nelly was that ever a penalty.

There was no time left for Athletic to find a response. There wasn’t even enough time for Johnson to find an alternative perch, having been sent to the stand deep into added time for contesting the decision forcefully with the fourth official.

Athletic earlier had reasonable cause for complaint that they should have had their own penalty.

Ian Goodison — who was superb in tandem with the equally resolute Ash Taylor in the heart of the Rivers defence — looked to have hauled James Tarkowski to the floor in the first half as the home centre-half got his body goal-side. Ilderton shook his head. Athletic fans shook their fists.

Perhaps Athletic missed Jose Baxter’s subtlety here. Against the club located six miles from home, as the crow (dad) flies (drives), the boy from Bootle who is now a Blade was replaced like-for-like on the substitute’s bench by Manchester City’s Albert Rusnak.

Rusnak (19) almost made the same impact as Baxter did on his debut close to a year previous.

But while substitute Baxter fired home to net an equaliser against Notts County, substitute Rusnak only found the palms of Owain Fon Williams’ gloves with his effort from a very similar position off a cross by tricky full debutant Sidney Schmeltz.

Rusnak will have better days than this. As will Athletic, who for all their good approach work tested Fon Williams far too infrequently.

Johnson left Cristian Montano on the bench in promoting Schmeltz and there was also a start for new Italian defender Matteo Lanzoni.

Playing at right-back for injury victim Connor Brown, the former Sampdoria man played with assurance before running out of steam later on.

As did Athletic. Their best chance of the match arguably came in the first minute when out-of-sorts Jonson Clarke-Harris faded a header wide, shortly before a flicked shot by Adam Rooney also drifted across the face of goal.

Tarkowski headed narrowly over the top as the home side started positively and such was Tranmere’s mindset that Fon Williams was warned about time-wasting after half an hour.

The non-award of a penalty just before half-time should have had Athletic fired up to start the second period apace. Instead, the reaction was muted.

Johnson’s men spluttered into life only sporadically and the substitutions didn’t have the desired effect either.

Montano at least extended Fon Williams with a shot from long range after Rusnak’s big chance.

At the other end, Taylor’s header from the edge of the area had Oxley worried as it drifted wide — though not on the same scale of anxiety that he must have experienced following that penalty award.

So it is that Athletic have now beaten Tranmere once in the last six meetings. Ain’t life just grand.