Tranmere 2 Swindon Town 1 

Town slide continues but Malpas remains positive

 

Coca-Cola League One

 

RESULT: Tranmere Rovers 2 Swindon Town 1

 

Tranmere scorers: S Jennings 11, C Greenacre 40

Swindon scorer: B Paynter 67

 

Maurice Malpas calyx multimedia

One win in ten games is relegation form in anyone's book.

 

But Town boss Maurice Malpas won't be pushing the panic button just yet after this performance.

 

A display that saw the Robins dominate for long periods but ultimately succumb to two first-half goals in a game played out in atrocious conditions.

 

"I'm staying positive," Malpas commented. "I think we deserved something from the game as the performances of late don't reflect the run of results that we've had.

 

"It's a very frustrating time, but with the right attitude we'll all come through it."

 

Achilles heel

Despite an improved performance from Saturday's poor showing against Southend, Town were once again made to pay dearly for their first-half defensive mistakes.

Tranmere's early opener the result of a number of missed challenges, which ultimately led to Steve Jennings toe-poking a soft goal past a rain-soaked Peter Brezovan.

 

The second, just before the break, another concession from a set-piece, fast becoming Town's season-long achilles heel.

A well-delivered corner, expertly volleyed home by Chris Greenacre despite Town protests of a push on Lee Peacock - and an appeal from Peter Brezovan that the ball had never crossed the line.

 

The referee adamant, however, that the goal should stand, much to the Swindon players' disappointment.

 

Pride

At 2-0 down it was always going to be a long-haul in the second-half, but at least Swindon came out and genuinely took the game to the home side.

Billy Paynter deservedly managed to pull a goal back, following some impressive work by Simon Cox down the right.

 

The former Reading forward's pin-point cross giving his strike-partner the easiest of tap-ins.

In an attempt to snatch an equaliser Kaid Mohamed was given his first appearance in a Swindon shirt since his return from a loan spell at Torquay.

But even his eagerness to impressive Malpas failed to provide the extra spark need to grab an equaliser.

The result leaves Town languishing in 15th place in the table, just above west country rivals Yeovil, Cheltenham and Bristol Rovers.

 

The battle is now to find where the next win will come from.

The League One Table:

 

1 Swansea 39 35 79
2 Carlisle 38 24 74
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3 Doncaster 40 22 72
4 Nottm Forest 39 23 63
5 Southend 39 10 62
6 Tranmere 41 9 62
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7 Brighton 39 8 59
8 Leeds 38 27 57
9 Walsall 39 10 57
10 Leyton Orient 40 -8 56
11 Oldham 40 8 55
12 Northampton 40 1 54
13 Hartlepool 40 2 52
14 Huddersfield 39 -14 52
15 Swindon 40 -2 48
16 Yeovil 40 -16 48
17 Cheltenham 40 -17 47
18 Bristol Rovers 37 -3 46
19 Millwall 40 -14 45
20 Crewe 40 -16 44
---------------------------
21 Gillingham 39 -28 39
22 Bournemouth 40 -17 32
23 Luton 39 -14 30
24 Port Vale 40 -30 29

NEXT GAME:

 

Oldham (h)

Saturday 5 April 2008, 3.00pm

Coca-Cola League One