Tranmere boss Mellon happy as Rovers win under the lights

Posted Saturday, October 13, 2018 by PA

Micky Mellon championed his match-winner and the return of Friday night football to Prenton Park after Tranmere moved up to fourth in the table with a 1-0 victory over Macclesfield.

Sheffield United loanee Harvey Gilmour scored the only goal of the game – his third in two matches – to clinch a third consecutive win for Rovers in a close match under the floodlights.

The result leaves Macclesfield winless and rooted to the bottom of the table, but Mellon’s Rovers are firmly heading in the opposite direction.

He said: “It’s a massive result, especially on Friday night because we know how much it means to Tranmere and the fans to have the Friday night fixtures.

“A great turn out, brilliant atmosphere. A cagey game – it was always going to be like that I think and then we get a terrific opener that was worthy of winning any game.

“A that stage of the game, to show that strength, it’s what Connor’s (Jennings) all about and to pick out young Harvey with a fantastic pass after all that, it shows you the quality of the boy.

“Harvey is a great kid. He just loves football and he’s a delight to work with all the time. He’s a real throwback. A lad who wants to be out there and play well. He’s not frightened of going out there a looking to take part in a game. He’s a terrific little player.”

In a game of limited action Adam Buxton hit the post with a freekick for Tranmere in the first half before Michael Rose repeated the feat for the Silkmen after the break.

Rhys Taylor denied James Norwood with his legs but he could do nothing to prevent Gilmour’s thunderous low drive from the edge of the box with just over quarter of an hour remaining.

Joint caretaker Macc manager Neil Howarth said: “No one can tell me we deserved to lose that.

“We’ve had two games this week – Tuesday, Friday. It’s been difficult to get the lads on the training ground. We’ve had a lot of dialogue with the players rather than actually on the grass.

“For them to pick up what we’ve been asking of them in such a short space of time without really practicing it – I thought they were excellent.

“We’ve just got to encourage them to keep believing. You can’t go from where we are at the bottom of the league to just playing unbelievable football and scoring lots of goals and winning.

“There’s got to be a progression and we absolutely saw that today and the lads have been first class this week I must admit.

“It just felt like we were on top and we were going to go on and win the game. Tranmere weren’t really hurting us.”