Tranmere - Bournemouth 1-0 (1-0)

Prenton Park, 28.10.06
Att: 6 076

Finally three points after we'd gone six games without a league-win! The game was not very exiting in the starting-minutes. The only thing that it was sufficient of, was bookings...! Anyway, Rovers seemed a bit more comfertable since the last home-game against Port Vale and had a oppurtunity on 20 mins, as Taylor hit the bar with a header. Chris McCready had an exellent chance later on as he headed the ball goalbounds after a corner. However, their goalie produced an even better save to deny Rovers. On 41 minutes Rovers did manage to break the deadlock as Kevin Ellison hit the back of the net. Shane Sherriff was the provider as he curled the ball in from the left and found Taylor who headed the ball back into Ellisons path. Just moments later Ellison could have made it two as he also headed the ball onto the bar.
After half-time Rovers continued to have the better chances as Taylor, Greenacre and Goodison all should have found the net. Taylors effort came after a good freekick manouver, but their keeper saved. Greenacre was very unlucky not to score as his brilliant overheadkick was brilliantly saved. And how Goodisons header from a corner did not cross the goalline is still beyond me. Bournemouth didn't have to many chances as Rovres looked quiet comfortable. It has to be said that the Cherriers probably is the weakest team that has vivited Prenton Park this season...
MOM: Paul McLaren, did ever so well in the middle of the park.

Chester City - Hartlepool 2-1 (1-1)

Saunders Honda Stadium, 20.10.06
Att: 2 580

Two mates of mine and I travelled down to Chester to see this game at the more known Deva Stadium. After finding our way into the ground, it started off in a perfect way for a neutral fan. Just after ten minutes, the a Chester defender backpassed the ball to his goalkeeper, which hitthe ball straight into a Hartlepool-player, and in the end, the ball was in the back of the net... Then, five mins later, Hartlepool was down to ten men after Jon Daly elbowed a Chester player. They did not however take advantage of the extra player, and played very poorly. They did manage to score straight before the interval though through Ashley Westwood, after a rebound-scramble...
After the break, the home-side were very much on top and deservedly got their reward when Jon Walters replied quickly after a very good save from the Hartlepool goalie. The visitors goalkeeper had a very good game, and Hartlepool can thank him for not conceding more goals...
MOM: Konstantopoulos, the Hartlepool goalkeeper.

Bury - Tranmere 0-2 (0-1)

Gigg Lane, 17.10.06
Att: 1 093

Johnstone's Paint Trophy, first round. Probably more known as LDV Vans Trophy... This cup has got a new sponsor, and hence, a new name... The format has changed a bit as well to try and get some more interest round the cup. If it's a draw after 90 minutes, the game goes straight to penalties, and every team has to field a minimum of six first-team regulars.
Tranmere travelled the short way to Bury to try and get the first win in six games. No doubt the confidence was boosted before out league-game away to Carlisle this Saturday after this win.
The first half was very dull. Bury had some half-chances, but never threatened John Achterberg, which played his first first-team game in nearly a year. Chris Shuker finally broke his duck, as he curled a freekick in from 20 yards out. Former Rovers-defender Dave Challinor handled the ball, and the free-kick resulted in 1-0 to the Rovers.
2nd half was better and more open as Bury searched for an equalizer. A couple of more half-chances and a very good shot, which Achto reacted well to was their threats. Rovers also produced many half-chances, and got a penalty-claim turned down, as one of their defenders clearly handled the ball. Substitute John Mullin should also have done better when he had the time to place the ball, however, he miskicked it.
Just before the final whistle, Kevin Ellison broke down the left, skipped past the last defender, and passed the ball to another sub, Steven Jennings. Himself and the ball slided over the goalline to make it 2-0! We will now meet Darlington at home in the next round.
MOM: Chris Greenacre. Worked his socks off with all the running, and creating chances for both himself and others.

Tranmere - Port Vale 1-2 (0-2)

Prenton Park, 13.10.06
Att: 7 866

Tranmere started the match on top, but soon the little quality they had shown dropped dramatically! Both Chris Shuker and Kevin Ellison should have scored, but instead, Port Vale took advantage of a disgraceful free-kick from Ellison, went up the pitch and scored... After that Tranmere weren't to recognise... They couldn't do anything in the first half as Port Vale dominated. And straight before half-time they got a free kick, which never should have been given, and scored from the rebound... 2-0 down by halftime. I really couldn't see us coming back, but as we came out in the second half and put them under pressure, I slightly realized we could come back, specially when Greenacre rounded their goalie and made it 1-2. But after that we were awful again. I have to give credit to Goodlad in Vales goal. Ha made some fantastic saves from Mullin and Ellison... It was not our day, as time went by and we deservedly lost 2-1, unfortunatley! We will never get promoted with this kind of play!!!
Oh, and the referee didn't help us...
MOM: I don't care!

England - Macedonia 0-0 (0-0)

Old Trafford, 07.10.06
Att: 72 062

A game that most of us thought would be a walk-over for England. It never was... Macedonia impressed me a lot with some brilliant defencive play and with more luck, they could have got all three points!
England started off brightly and put pressure on little Macedonia from the start, however they couldn't find a way through their visitors defence, and Macedonia's confidence grew as the match progressed. A splended volley-attempt from Macedonia, which would have been a great goal, went just over the bar. Lampard and Carrick in the centre and Downing on the left did not impress, and the stats told by half-time that they only had managed one shot on goal...
The second half was better than the first, a few more chances to both teams. England had two very good chances, but the Macedonia-goalie pulled off some brilliant saves.
If Macedonia had deared to send more players in attack, they might have shocked the home-team. They had a couple of good chances, but Ledley King impressed when he twice avoided the Macedonia strikers to run clean through on goal. Shaun Wright-Phillips could have scored on his first run after he replaced Downing, but his shot was to weak. Five minutes from time, Gerrard hit the ball towards the goal. It rattled against the crossbar, and that summed up Englands day.
MOM: Jane Nikolovski; The Macedonien goalkeeper.

Ground hopper :-)

In the absence of me going to Rovers-games lately, I have to write about some other football-topic. Rovers travelled to Bradford last Saturday, glad I didn't went as they got battered 2-0. Tomorrow they'll travel to Swansea, hopefully this time around they will come back with a result...

Anyway, the other day I was looking through all the games I've been to here in England. I found out that I had been to 20 different grounds and 29 games before I moved here in August.

So here are all the grounds and matches I've seen there;

25.10.97 Tranmere-Charlton 2-2 Prenton Park
26.10.97 Arsenal-Aston Villa 1-1 Highbury
26.02.00 Norwich-Huddersfield 1-1 Carrow Road
27.02.00 Leiceister-Tranmere 2-1 Wembley Stadium
28.02.00 QPR-Fulham 0-0 Loftus Road
24.02.01 Tottenham-Leeds 1-2 White Hart Lane
03.03.01 Crewe-Tranmere 3-1 Gresty Road
04.03.01 Fulham-Bolton 1-1 Craven Cottage
21.10.01 Newcastle-Totenham 0-2 St. James' Park
20.11.01 Reading-Tranmere 4-1 Madejski Stadium
23.02.02 West Ham-Middlesbrough 1-0 Boleyn Ground
24.08.02 Oldham-Tranmere 2-0 Boundery Park
27.08.02 Charlton-Tottenham 0-1 The Valley
01.03.03 Brentford-Tranmere 1-2 Griffin Park
19.10.03 Everton-Southampton 0-0 Goodison Park
03.04.04 Wrexham-Tranmere 0-1 Racecourse Ground
04.04.04 Liverpool-Blackburn 4-0 Anfield Road
05.11.04 Millwall-Sunderland 2-0 The New Den
09.11.04 Bristol City-Tranmere 4-0 Ashton Gate
16.12.05 Preston NE-Sheffield U 0-0 Deepdale

This season I've visited KC Stadium (Hull), Millmoor (Rotherham) and Sixfield Stadium (Northampton).

On top of this I have been to a total of 10 times at Prenton Park before this season.

How many grounds do you guys have?

Tranmere - Huddersfield Town 2-2 (2-0)

Prenton Park, 26.09.06
Att: 6 702

I feel like we just have lost a game. Two points lost definitaly. After being two goals up halftime, I would never think that we would only end up with one come the final whistle!
It started off very well. Chris Shuker had a very good first half. He really wanted to break his duck, and showed everyone that he was on fire. It was him that created the first goal with a brilliant cross that was met by Calvin Zolas head. He made no mistakes, and scored his second goal of the season. Huddersfield came up with nothing during the first half and Rovers produced one of the best halfs I've ever witnessed. Especially the second goal was something very special. I dare to make a comparison to Argentinas wondergoal in the World-cup. Stockdale, Shuker, Mullin and McLaren passed the ball around for a number of times on the right. Suddenly Shuker set off into the penalty-area, rounding the Town-defenders, cleverly passed the ball to Greenacre who scored with a low shot to round off a brilliant move! On top of this Greenacre had the ball in the net straight before the half-time whistle, but it was ruled out for an offside.
Huddersfield looked much stronger in the second half, and their first goal came as a result of a mistake by Gavin Ward. He came out to deal with a cross, but failed. Andy Booth easily sent the ball into the empty goal to 2-1. Just before that goal Shuker really should have made it 3-0 when he hit the post when alone with the Town-goalie. Huddersfield continued to play some neat football and got rewarded when Taylor-Fletcher equalised 15 minutes from time.
In the end it was a fair result posession-wise. However Rovers had enough oppurtunities to kill the game off, but as in other games, they don't score enough goals when they can...
MOM: Although very dissapointed with him in the second half, I'll give it to Chris Shuker. He had a cracker of a first half and setting up both goals.

Tranmere - Nottingham Forest 0-0 (0-0)

Prenton Park, 23.09.06
Att: 11 444

Compared to many other Rovers-supporters I wasn't very confident that we would win this afternoon. So I think one point is a point won, and not two lost...
Nearly 11 500 packed inside Prenton (it looked more like 13000!) for this top-of-the-table-clash. There was a good pre-match atmosphere, but the first half was not as good. A very dull game with no-one really having a go in the first 45 minutes, with much posession from both teams. Gavin Ward made a very good save, and Rovers had many half-chances. One of them was a free-kick from Shuker, but their goalie had control. That was it really, but it was very tense.
The second half was a bit better, though Tranmere never really got going. They gave Forest a bit too much space, and defended maybe too deep. Kevin Ellison should have scored from a tight angle, when the ball got loose after a few challenges in the box. However, he shot the ball into the Kop. Gavin Ward made some good saves, especially right at the end, when he blocked a couple of very good chances. Tranmere can count themselves very lucky that no-one of those chances was converted to a goal.
It was to be fair a very even game, and a draw was the right result, both teams had good chances and good spells, but it remained goalless. So that means we're still second behind leaders Forest. Now, bring on Huddersfield come Tuesday!
MOM: Gavin Ward, made som exellent saves during the game!

Northampton Town - Tranmere 1-3 (0-2)

Sixfield Stadium, 16.09.06
Att: 5 334

A very good restult for Rovers. A very deserved victory, but we could have played better... The homeside had the first big chance of the game as Gavin Ward miskicked a goalkick. Andy Kirk raced towards Ward, but the goalie saved to the relief of the travelling fans. On 14 minutes Calvin Zola, who had replaced Chris Greenacre up front from the midweek-game, picked the ball up and magnificently curled the ball into the far corner from 14 yards out. His first goal of the season. By 25 minutes Rovers had done two substitutions, as both Ellison and McLaren got injured. Northampton took advantage of the changes and pressured Rovers, but they couldn't get an equalizer. 35 minutes was gone when Shuker crossed to Taylor who brilliantly headed into the far post with challenge from two Cobbler-defenders.
Imiidiatly after the break everyone in the ground thought that it was game on again as McGleish got the ball on 4 yards. He managed however to kick it over the bar... And then just 10 minutes later Rovers got a penalty. Steve Davies crossed the ball to Taylor, who was challenged by Johnson. The latter handled the ball and the pen was very correctly given. John Mullin kept his nerves cool and sent the ball in the back of the net, and is now joint top-scorer with Greenacre. Northampton did get one back, when McGleish beat Ward from 18 yards out with a low shot, when he just had the goalie to beat. All in all a good game!
MOM: John Mullin had a really good game, so I'll give the mom to him. But Zola did impress me with his running and ball-control...

Rotherham United - Tranmere 2-1 (2-1)

Millmoor, 12.09.06
Att: 3 732

Down on earth again! This game ended in a deserved victory for the home side as they played some good football, especially during the first half. Tranmere helped them a lot by giving away posession far too easily, and their defending was at times awful! Rovers were lucky not too concede early on, but it lasted only until the 18th minute when a shot from Lee Williamson flew past Ward. The home side continued their pressure, and must have been let down when Rovers scored at their first chance of the game. Kevin Ellison placed a rightfooted shot near the post. The goalie got a touch, but couldn't deny the 1-1 scoreline. After Rovers's goal in the 28th minute, it was a fairly even game. But when Rovers thought they were in the game and the travelling SWA were happy and singing, Rovers showed some awful defending allowing Will Hoskins to skip past at least three players, which didn't challenge him, before curling the ball into the far corner. After halftime Rovers really didn't seem to have the confident, and when Chris Greenacre went off injured, no one up front seemed bothered. Taylor and Zola are just too similar in their playingstyle, so that didn't work. Rovers' posession weren't enough this time, it ended in our second defeat in the league this season.
MOM: Won't give my mom to anyone this evening... No one deserved it, unfortunatley!

Tranmere - Bristol City 1-0 (0-0)

Prenton Park, 08.09.06
Att: 8 111

What an atmosphere! What an exitement! What a team!!! Finally the broke the duck against Bristol City. After 4 games without scoring against them, we finally did it, but we had to wait until the 85th minute. However, it was well worth the wait!
Tranmere couldn't produce the same tempo from the start, as they did against Orient. However Rovers had most of the possession and should really have been one up by half time. Gareth Taylor narrowly headed over the bar from a free-kick, when he really should have hit the target. We could also have had a penalty, but the referee, who didn't have the best game, turned the appeal down.
In the second half Goodison headed straight into Basso's hands. The whole of the ground thought that was going in, including me! I really didn't think that Rovers were going to find the opener, but they proved me very wrong, as John Mullin netted from 12 yards out just before the end to give Rovers a deserved win! Our goalie (or was it goalscorer?) Ward, almost didn't have to make a save all night!
So happy days on the Wirral as Rovers won their first of many Friday night games of the season.
MOM: I really can't pick any. The whole team worked their socks off for the victory, and they all hugged eachother at the final whistle! A great team victory!

Tranmere - Leyton Orient 3-0 (2-0)

Prenton Park, 02.09.06
Att: 6 446

So far the best game I've seen from Rovers this season, and maybe one of the best games I've seen them play. Rovers totally dominated the game the first 20 minutes, and deservedly scored twice in that period. They should however scored at least one more and had a penalty. Read carefully; Gavin Ward, yes the Gavin Ward, scored Rovers' first goal after nine minutes (for those who don't know, Ward is Rovers' goalkeeper!). An indirect free-kick just outside his own
box was kicked way up the field and bounced over the O's goalie and into the back of the net to the much delight of the Prenton faithfuls! Their goalkeeper got a vital touch, cause if he hadn't, the goal would have been disallowed. A very good atmosphere got even better when Chris Greenacre scored just three mins later when Chris Shuker found him all alone on the edge of the six-yard box. Shuker himself had lots of oppertunities, but couldn't manage to get a goal to his name. After Rovers' spell of dominance it was an equal contest the rest of the half. The second half was a good contest between the sides. Both teams had very good goalchances, but couldn't take the advantage of them. That was until the 80th minute, when Greenacre converted a rebound from the goalie to make it 3-0 and game over. Rovers were lucky to hold out for a clean sheet at the end, when Orient had a couple of very good chances.
All in all a very good performance by Rovers! Now we're 2nd! Come on you Rovers!
MOM: John Mullin. Made a very good performance in the heart of Rovers midfield. And a 2nd mom to Ward, just for scoring his first ever senior goal! :)

Hull - Tranmere 1-1 (0-1) 2-1 aet

KC Stadium, 22.08.06
Att: 6 075

Rovers coudn't manage to get through to the 2nd round of the Carling Cup this year either. After a boring opening 25 minutes, Rovers got the lead after 31 minutes when the linesman awarded Rovers and Shane Sherriff a goal, when his header was just over the line. After good Rovers-spell the last 15-20 minutes of the 1st half, they couldn't reproduce the spell in the 2nd half. Hull totally dominated the game and got a well-deserved equalizer just before the hour mark. Ben Burgess' header was well out of Ward's reach... Both teams had chances to score, but Hull was by far closest. After 90 minutes it was still 1-1 and extra time had to be played. After the first 5 minutes it really seemed like bith teams were happy with this going to penalties, but it wasn't to be for Rovers, as Duffy hit the ball in a perfect volley 10 minutes from time.
Now let's focus on the league!
MOM: Ian Goodison, again impressing me with his brilliant centre half abilites!

Tranmere - Yeovil 2-1 (1-1)

Prenton Park, 19.08.06.
Att: 6 023

My first match after I arrived in England. I guess everyone at Prenton Park was hoping for a replay of last years encounter vs Yeovil which ended convincingly 4-1 to Rovers. It was not to be, but it could easily have been the same result. After a scrappy first 35 minutes, Kevin Ellison put Rovers in front after a flick on by Greenacre. I can't say Ellison had his nerves calm, but anyway, goal counts anyhow they are scored :) It was however very dissapointing when Yeovil equalised just before half-time. The second half was a good improvement from the first. Rovers upped the tempo and had lots and lots of chances! They did get the winner through some exellent play. Mullin got the last touch from the edge of the 6-yard box. Greenacre twice and Stockdale could have put Rovers further ahead, but it wasn't to be! Yeovil also had some decent chances, but in the end a deserved victory!
MOM: Ian Goodison, had an exellent game at the heart of Rovers' defence.

footballblog on ice....

Just wanted to say that I won't post anything on this blog until the season kicks off early August...

Until then, blogoffjeld.blogspot.com is the place to be...

Rovers-update and WC-update

Rovers today signed their 8th player of the week! As I've said before, Kevin Ellison and Robbie Stockdale was the first two players to be brought in... John Mullin and Paul McLaren (both from Rotherham), Goalie Gavin Ward (Preston), defender Shane Sheriff (Aarhus) and striker Gareth Taylor was added to the squad in the closing stages of the week. In addition to this, Jason McAteer was rewarded with another year as a player-coach and will continue to be a part of the staff, which now includes manager Ronnie Moore and ass.mgr John Breckin.
I think Moore has done well so far with the signings. Of course I haven't seen them in action yet, but I thin kthey will crop well with the rest if the squad, as they turned up for pre-season training today.

So Get Fit Rovers!

The world cup has drawn the following teams togehter;
Germany vs Argentina
England vs Portugal
Italy vs Ukraine
France - Brazil

The matches starts tomorrow and I hope that England will make it to the last four, at least!
Engerland, engerland, engerland!

Welcome to my footballworld!

The summer is usually a boring part of the year, when it comes to football. The season in England is finished, even the footballseason in Norway has a break. But of course this year, in fact every 4th year, is an exception. The World Cup is here. And today round two starts! 8 matches in the coming round two.

Germany-Sweden
Argentina-Mexico
England-Equador
Portugal-The Netherlands
Italy-Australia
Switzerland-Ukraine
Brasil-Ghana
Spain-France

It will certainly be some amazing days...


I do also want to mention that Ronnie Moore has brought in his first players to Tranmere. Former Middlesborough player Robbie Stockdale and Kevin Ellison. Hope they will become real assets for the club.