League Cup Final:
Tranmere 1-0 Manchester City
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What a fantastic performance from the Rovers! Quality rear guard protection that ensured a valuable clean sheet! From there it was just down to a last minute tap in for Oriol Fernandez to secure us the win and more importantly some Silverware! As a bonus goodie we will now feature in next years Europa League! Would never of dreamed of this achievement. My first taste of silverware and Tranmere’s first trophy in quite a long time. Delighted.
nPower Championship:
West Brom 2-1 Tranmere
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Not the best of performances here. The lads looked a little tired after the League Cup final and I wasn’t too hard on the lads in the dressing room at half time. I’m going to give them a little slack after beating the current Premier League leaders.
Tranmere 3-2 Southampton
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A confident performance from the lads after a few days or rest. It was a really evened out and entertaining game. Southampton showed that they are no pushovers and created plenty of chances for themselves , but some good defending and equally brilliant attacking we managed to ease past them. Good win for us.
Brentford 2-3 Tranmere
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A fantastic performance against a mediocre Brentford team. Our attacking football was simply brilliant. Slightly annoyed at the two goals we conceded , need to be a bit stronger in the back if we are to improve over time. Fraser McCarthy makes his return to the first team with another goal to his name. A lengthly injury has kept him out of action for a few weeks, but he came back looking sharp.
Tranmere 4-0 Derby
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A solo performance from Fraser McCarthy just showed how important he is too this team. He destroyed the Derby defence with his darting runs , fantastic touches and some tremendous finishing. Really good to see him back and banging in the goals.
Bolton 5-1 Tranmere
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After our last performance, I thought we would go on a really long run of good form but what I seen today was truly dreadful. I don’t know what went wrong , couldn’t really string two passes together. Bolton on the other hang created quite a number of chances and made sure of them. Our defenders are beginning to look fatigued so I’ll need revamp that area soon.
Tranmere 2-2 Sheffield United
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A brilliant performance , just a pity we couldn’t take our chances. Fraser McCarthy has picked up another injury which will set him back for another week or so. Our passing game was phenomenal and we split the Blades defence open numerous times. Our defence was a bit poor overall, really letting us down.
Tranmere 1-1 Barnsley
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A mixed performance , a good first half performance but we still failed to capitalize on our chances. Our second half performance was rather poor and frustrating. Barnsley second half performance was brilliant , dominating us and for at least 10minutes we couldn’t get a touch of the game. Fraser McCarthy recovered a lot quicker than I expected and I gave him a run out in the second half and notched us a goal to secure a point.
Swansea 1-5 Tranmere
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Fraser McCarthy and youngster Maarten Kok combined to destroy Swansea City. 4 Goals for the youngster demonstrated his brilliance. Our passing was phenomenal and we never looked like missing our opportunities. Our defence stood strong , but unfortunately we couldn’t keep a clean sheet today either.
Millwall 1-2 Tranmere
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Not the best of performances but it was enough to get the win. Millwall will be extremely annoyed at this performance , they looked a lot better and dangerous and created so many chances and really should of defeated us. This game was a classic case of backs to the wall on our part. 3 valuable points to help our league position!
Tranmere 2-1 Hull City
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A very pleasing, performance. Kept possession well and simply frustrated the Hull side and when they opened up we punished them with some attacking football that split their defence open on a number of occasions. We lacked a bit of composure up front again , somewhere where we really need to improve. We are starting to pick up our good form and hopefully can go on a good run.
Huddersfield 2-3 Tranmere
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When I first looked at this fixture , Huddersfield struck me as a team we should be fearing after a very good season they are sitting second in the table and within 5 minutes they proved that I was right to fear them. 2-0 down inside 5 minutes and I thought we were in for a hammering. It didn’t take us long to get our first goal on the 7
th minute and on the first kick of the first half McCarthy fancied his chance from 30 yards and scored a brilliant goal and from there it was down Thomas Reilly to add his second of the game and our winner, fantastic comeback. This win secured us a play-off spot!
Blackpool 1-2 Tranmere
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Maarten Kok showed his quality yet again! He single handily destroyed the Blackpool team! Some lovely football to end our Season on. We can look forward to a Playoff semi final against Ipswich and I’m confident of proceeding through that tie. Really happy with this run of form and at the perfect time!
nPower Championship Playoff Semi-Final:
Ipswich 0-1 Tranmere
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I can’t stress how important a clean sheet was too our cause! We played really well for a large portion of the match which was promising, and Elmohamady scored a rare goal from long range which was fortunate to hit the bar and find it’s way past the goal line. Our defence did the rest of the job by holding up well and keeping out Ipswich’s chances.
Tranmere 2-0 Ipswich
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Again I’m delighted to keep another clean sheet! Away goals could have been a disaster for us. It didn’t take us long to break the deadlock through Thomas Reilly. Oriol Fernandez then added to the scoreline 10 minutes into the second half to secure our position in the Final of the playoffs and a trip to Wembley Stadium!
nPower Championship Play-off Final:
Tranmere 1-0 Cardiff
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An extremely entertaining game for the neutral fan! I was delighted at the way we approached this game. Possession wise Cardiff at the most of it , but couldn’t create as many attacks as we did. It was left to youngster Maarten Kok to tap in a cross which secured the win and the promotion to the Barclays Premier Leagu! Fantastic!
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A fantastic season where we were extremely competitive. My objective this year was to reach the play-offs and perform well overall and maybe reach the quarter Final in the League cup and the 4th round in the FA cup. I never expected us to do this well though. A league cup to add to our trophy cabinet a place in the Barclays Premier League and Europa League next year! I didn’t quite get Manager of the Year but I got runner up!
Player of the Season:
Oriol Fernandez
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This was an extremely difficult decision to make, but it had to be between Fernandez and McCarthy. Due to his injury stricken season , Fernandez had a bigger task ahead of him making up for McCarthy’s absence. He had a fantastic season and I would love to get him on a permanent basis, but after his performances this season I don’t think Tottenham will be so keen to let him go cheaply!