County v Tranmere (League Cup, Round One)

After the entertainment on Saturday, there was no time for County to rest on their laurels as Tranmere Rovers arrived at Edgeley Park for the 1st round of the League Cup. Spirit among the fans was still high after the dramatic win over Dagenham and Redbridge, and a decent crowd of over 3,400 turned out to watch this game, including a large amount of travelling Rovers fans. Report by Martin

Left	Ahead	Right

As always, click on the pictures for bigger versions

It’s not that often that the first game of the season also sees in the first proper goal “mental” of the season. However, still nursing the bruises of that encounter, it was back to Edgeley Park in high spirits for the first round of the cup. While it’s early days to make any predictions, the manner of the win on Saturday has given everyone a boost, and expectation and excitement were in the air on route to EP after parking up the car. The draw could have been kinder, but likewise, it could have been a lot worse and many fans were looking forward to seeing how County would cope with a side from a division above us. It was obvious that many County fans were also still buzzing from the result at the weekend as the Cheadle End turnstiles were letting in a decent stream of fans for a first round encounter.

There was a change of scenery for this game in that I was watching the game from the Main Stand, and as such, it was quickly obvious that Tranmere had brought a very respectable following indeed as the two blocks at the end of the Pop Side started to fill up and the first cries of “Tranmere” started to echo around the ground. The Cheadle End at this point was keeping its powder dry and was fairly quite initially, though as kick off approached, the first County songs of the evening floated down onto the pitch. The players were soon out with Tranmere lining up in an all black kit, with County in our new home kit.

The game was swiftly underway, and it was soon apparent that Rovers were a decent side. They had a resilient defence, and more worryingly, could play the ball around at pace – they were quick to pile men forward and had a tall centre forward who was able to cause Williams and Owen to pay close attention to his runs. With Greenacre also on the park, it would certainly provide a test for County and the initial stages saw County spending more time defending than applying pressure. While being pushed back somewhat, for the most part the danger was blocked by any means necessary, while further forward, Griffin was furiously launching himself into tackles left right and centre to try and win the ball back when we lost it.

Match Action	Tranmere fans	County defend

Off the pitch, the Tranmere fans were making a fair bit of noise, including that mass “arm throwing” gesture when they disagreed with a decision. Before long, the stewards and police started moving in, and it wasn’t too much longer before the Cheadle End was happily singing “Cheerio” as Rovers fans were being escorted out of the ground in ones and twos. I couldn’t understand it at the time as it didn’t look like there was any trouble, or even “persistent standing”, but later it was discovered that a number of their fans had elected to smoke, and continue to smoke, even though the Football League have changed the rules to make the entire ground non-smoking these days.

Meanwhile, Tranmere were looking the more likely to open the scoring as they carved out some decent chances at goal. Logan was forced into a cracking save midway through the half, diving and turning the ball around the post – the Cheadle End and home areas of the ground rising up to applaud the save. Shortly after this, County were nearly in front when a Tranmere defender was pressured into heading back towards goal but it looped just over the bar.

Tranmere kept attacking and could have opened the scoring but for an excellent save from Logan again, this time using his feet to block the shot and get a good distance out to it. The game then settled back into the pattern of County working hard to try and deny Tranmere chances, though we were putting together a few decent passes at times. Griffin was still clattering people with regularity and it must be said was perhaps lucky that the referee was content with explaining things rather than flashing a card immediately. With the half drawing to a close, 0-0 wouldn’t be bad at all against a side a league above us and of course, County would be attacking the Cheadle End second half which always seems to spur them on to find that bit extra. With the whistle signalling the end of the half, County were applauded off for their efforts.

After the break, it was game on, as the heavens opened and a fine rain started to drizzle down – getting heavier and coating the grass making footing and tackling a bit trickier. Tranmere were quick out of the blocks and nearly opened the scoring – a low shot thumping off the inside of the post and heading diagonally out across goal where it was cleared to safety. It was a good effort, but it did look like Logan had it covered, even if the margin was rather close for comfort!

The rain starts	Just after the goal	Players + injured Poole

The inevitable happened not long into the second half – Griffin was booked after he tried the ref’s patience once too often and was booked. While Tranmere were having the better clear cut chances, County were very much still in the game, and we were putting some decent balls into the area that lead to more than a few scrambles to clear. Elding had a decent chance the keeper saved well, and the move of the game so far from County saw a cross shoot across the box and just evade everyone except McNeil, who’s shot went just the wrong side of the post. From the reaction of the fans in the Cheadle End, it must have been close, and in the Main Stand, a good number thought the ball had actually gone in and were starting to celebrate before realising their mistake – accompanied by the ironic cheering of the remaining non-smoking Tranmere fans (their numbers ever decreasing as a steady stream of their fans were escorted out across the Railway End). Obviously, it would be remiss of our support to let them out un-noticed, and it was an unusually large amount of “Cheerio” chants that echoed around the ground during this game. Caz, who was at home ill, queried me on this when I got back as apparently they were clearly audible on the radio.

While watching yet more Tranmere fans leaving, on the park, their team nearly scored in front of them but the header sailed just past the bar and post. This caused the Rovers fans to believe they’d scored for an instant, and the Pop Side were busily recreating their earlier irony as a decent amount of banter appeared to be swapping sides. Tranmere still looked dangerous and another shot only just missed – grazing the bar on the way past into the Railway End.

With time starting to run out, County started to come into the game more, thanks to a couple of substitutions from Tranmere where apparently dangerous players were taken off – to our relief! With just over ten minutes to go we created another decent chance that missed the goal by a narrow angle. A few people were heard to say “Times nearly up so we’ll score soon” – but it was Tranmere that came closest when Logan had to dive to his left at full stretch to push the ball around his post.

With six minutes left, County were on the attack. Everything seemed to happen at once. Poole received the ball, and played it forward towards Dickinson, who was near the penalty spot. Just after Poole played it, he was clattered by a Rovers player – in isolation, I suspect that the Rovers player may have seen a yellow or even red card for it. The referee allowed play to go on, despite our protests, and the ball arrived at Dickinson’s feet, who tried to let it run past him and turn onto it for a shot at goal. As he did this, a Rovers defender slid in at pace on the wet grass, and won the ball cleanly before taking out Dickinson. The Cheadle End erupted with claims for a penalty, but the referee didn’t blow. The ball headed out to just inside edge of the area, where McNeil strode in and calmly placed a shot under the keeper to put County 1-0 up and spark more scenes of wild celebration across the ground, with the exception of a suddenly disgruntled clump of Rovers fans away to our left.

Rainy Railway End	Killing time at the end	Full time

With time running out, Rovers upped a few gears and put County under pressure – however the defence this season, well marshalled by Logan is looking more solid and we were able to hold on without too many issues to progress into Round 2. At the full time whistle, a large roar of approval sounded from all home areas, while the Tranmere fans, disgruntled, were booing their team off loudly. They probably didn’t expect to lose to us, and on the evidence of the game, they had a pretty fair claim to take something from it – with by far the better clear chances at goal. I would have given Logan the Man of the Match but it went elsewhere. That said, while they had the best openings, County finished the game very strongly – the pre-season hard work is paying off and then some and we wore Dagenham out on Saturday and had more energy in the last ten than Tranmere in this game.

So, we’re on to Round 2, and fingers crossed for a good draw. Re-reading the above, there is a worrying amount of football content. This isn’t what you usually expect to find on this site, but having driven to the game, and it being a “school night” I’d avoided the pubs. I’m sure that Chesterfield away with have more suitable tales of drunken antics. We’ll be there to report back on it as usual…