Kent Stop This Feeling

Tranmere Rovers away to Gillingham FC In EFL 2 at the Priestfield

The Rovers face the Gills on a sunny September day by the Medway. Not only sunny in Sussex then. Last time we saw the whites play was here back in March when a game of 2 halves saw us draw 1-1. The Rovs are unbeaten in the league so far with 8 points from the first 4. It's hardly been a goal fest with 3 scored, all by Omari Patrick. Have we jinxed that by coming here today? We will find out soon enough. The Gills have been flying and are sitting 2nd in the league having lost top spot after losing away to Doncaster last time out. It will be a tough game for the Whites. There are lots of new faces in the Tranmere squad. Luke is still in goal. Captain Tom (Davies) and Jordan Turnbull are familiar faces at the back. As is Connor Wood at left back. Newbie Cameron Norman is at right back, a position previously held by Lee O'Connor. Lee is now back in his preferred position of centre mid. Along side him is Regan Hendry. Kieron Morris and reigning top scored Omari Patrick are the wide players. Connor Jennings (O,E,O) , we still love him, and Josh Davison are upfront. Some new names on the bench with Zak Bradshaw and Saidou Khan. Up front for the Gills is none other than ex-Tranmere and more recently ex-Crewe, Elliott Nevitt. Will he score against the side the plucked him from Step 5 to become a professional EFL player. It's iNeveittable!

The teams swap ends after the toss and the Rovers are playing towards the 25 year old temporary stand. We are on one side at that end of the pitch. The play is all down the other end to start with. The Rovers are under fairly constant pressure and struggling to get the ball clear of their defensive 1/3. Tranmere start to get back into the game after 10 minutes or so and get a corner on 15. We dominate for about 5 minutes before it evens out a bit. Neither side is playing great football. There some odd moments as Nevitt blasts over on 34. We all cheer when Lapsli is booked    for dissent on 35. That's how dull it is! We get our first shot on target from Omari on 36 but it's well saved. They get another yellow on 38 for a bad foul on Connor. The score is kept level as Kieron and Connor are both needed to make defensive blocks. There is one more chance at each end as Davison hits wide and Gbodes hit over. No score at the break. Only another 45 minutes and we can go home.

Tranmere are the first to attack but poor defending leads to a goal for the Gills on 48. The Rovers are soon back in control of the ball but can't get a clear chance. That is until Omari forces a good save on 52. 1-0. He is back in action a minute later but his shot is blocked an goes out for a corner. Hendry takes it and Connor heads it just over the bar. Nigel rings the changes on 57 with Saunders in for Patrick, Luke Norris for Josh Davison and Saidou Khan for Lee O'Connor. It's Khan's first outing for the Whites and we're hoping he can bring a bit of energy and creativity. Not sure why Omari has gone though as he has scored all Rovers goal so far this season. Tranmere are still getting plenty of the ball. There are a hectic few minutes as Saunders and Morris both have shots blocked. Then Nevitt heads over again on 60. There is a 2nd yellow for Coleman for a foul on Khan on 61 and the Gills are down to 10 for the last half hour. Plenty of time for the Whites to get back on terms with the depleted hosts. We are getting all of the ball but struggling to make an impact with it. We get a flurry of corners but can't get on the end of them. There is a good spell while Turnbull and Davis stay up front when Khan and Hendry taking up defensive duties. The addition of Khan has added a bit of impetus in midfield. He's also getting up front where he forces a good save on 71. The Rovers lack of threat is summed up when one of the Gills is booked for time wasting with 15 minutes to go while a goal up at home. Another Rovers change as Kieron Morris makes way for Kristian Dennis. The Gills make their changes on 81 and they pay off. Jayden Clarke turns the ball over while the Whites are pressing high and makes it count on 83. 2-0. Looked a mile off side to us but we were sitting level with it so what would we know. Tranmere continue to press and have tons of room for Cameron Norman on the right but can't beat the Gills defence. Jayden Clarke does it again on 83 after dispossessing Khan. He is clearly on side this time. 3-0 to the hosts. Two minutes into injury time and Turnbull is replaced by Zak Bradshaw. In the 5th and last minute of injury time, Harvey Saunders heads over what is probably Rovers best chance of the game. FFS. Not a great day out for the SWA.

If you are going to lose your unbeaten record, do it in style. Tranmere had enough of the possession to dominate the games especially in the 2nd half. Just not enough creativity to get a goal against a team that sit back and defend well. There were enough corners and crosses towards the end to scrape a goal or 2. but it was probably too late by then. Losing possession when pressing high is never good but to do it twice is unforgivable. The first goal came from nothing and we were still in it until the last 5. Not a good watch for the 281 travelling Tranmere fans. It was, however, good to put some faces to names for the new boys. Omari Patrick and Josh Davison look like they mean business and will hopefully start impacting results soon. Khan looked very good in his first game and made a difference. Our Nigel need to work out his striker options quickly as we can't get the ball in the net. Planning how to defend when pressing high doesn't seem to have been a top priority on the training ground. Probably because we are usually sitting back and the vertigo of getting so high up the pitch made us dizzy. At one point all the big defenders were up front leaving Hendry and Khan to hold the fort. Hopefully there will be a good reaction at Colchester next week but no-one will be betting their house on it. The defence looked good in the first half, keeping it solid as were slowly got a foot in the game. The SWA were superb with plenty of singing. Even managed a bit of Tequila. Thanks to Gillingham for the hospitality and very discreet stewarding. It was the MK derby today and there were stewarding issues in SW19 again! Might have to give that a miss when it comes round in January.

POTM: O.E.O. I has to be the man we saved from Wrexham, Connor Jennings. September belongs to him after all and he always gives 110% for the badge.

The ref received plenty of feedback on his performance today. None of it positive and most of it justified. The Gills ran rings round him with their well rehearsed dives. Tom Davis (not our Captain Tom, the Olympic one) would quaking in his slides if he hadn't just retired. Again. Maybe he's coaching this lot as they are very good at it. Ref showed a bit of steel in sending off Coleman though. The 2nd goal looked off-side but that really didn't make any difference.

The Scran'o'meter was disallowed as motorway services don't count. Sorry Clackett Lane. No prize today.

Bottle to report: Bottles of water and Coke were purchased with the tops still on. Halleluiah.

The stewarding could not have been better. Just let the SWA do their thing and were polite and discreet. Not an angry Womble in sight.

Our own international break start now so see you in a couple of weeks.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Sunny in Kent

Right where you Left me

Newhaven FC visited Billingshurst FC in the 1st round of the Sussex Challenge Cup

The Dockers are off to Jubilee Fields to play Hurst or Billie in the first round of the County Cup. Heard that fixture before somewhere. We were here in 2021 for the 1st round of the Sussex Cup. That night we had an early 2 goal lead and lost to a late goal . There were a lot of changes to the team that night after winning 10-0 on the Saturday. This is the fourth of five cup competitions to start this season. We are already out of the PB Cup after a defeat to Crowborough and the FA Cup after a thrashing by YM. We are through to the VASE second round though. The RUR cup starts next week away to YM. Glad we are missing that. There is quite a bit of team news today with a couple of new faces. Jonny Barnes-Galloway is in goal. Hope he doesn't start rapping or managing a Wirral based EFL team. In front of him are Josh Tuck and new boy, Reagan Clarke-Salter. Have the managers been to the sales in the double-barrelled player shop? Outside them are Bailie, left, and Jacob Thomson on the right. Harry Reed and Cai Prichard are in the middle with Cal and Luka out wide. Shonk and Lee are up front. The constant changes at the back again can't be helping the team to settle. Praying for a clean sheet today. We don't get to see Billingshurst very often as they are the league below the Dockers but we still recognise one of the players, Archie Goddard. Fortunately he is on the bench today because he caused the Dockers all sorts of problems last time we were here. Hope he stays sitting down. The weather has been really wet for the last couple of hours but the pitch looks OK. Hope it isn't too slippery as that won't suit the Dockers at all. At least it's not postponed as we half expected. Hope it stays dry for the match otherwise it could get very cosy all sheltered in the little stand.

The Dockers kick off in the drizzle. They are trying to attack but the linesman keeps flagging off- side. Don't think he's getting many of them right as he lets Lee go when a mile off and then flags again when Bailie is a mile on-side. A mile may be an exaggeration and it was more like half a yard or 0.457 metres or 1/3520 of a mile. Luca gets the first goal on 20 ⚽when he cuts in from the left and drags it backwards and forwards across the box to find a shot. It goes in with Lee maybe getting the final touch. 0-1. The lead lasts 5 minutes and the leveller is a Cal style left foot curling worldie. Jonny gets a good touch on it but can't keep it out. 1-1. The next drama is Lee being awarded a penalty for being pulled back as he runs into the box. It's not a bad pen, hard and low, but the keeper makes a good save. Still 1-1 as we break for half time and a chance to get out of the rain.

It's raining hard as the players come back out. The Hurst have made a sub and it's no. 17, Archie Goddard coming on. The Dockers have replaced the injured Josh Tuck with Koby Farrell. We're playing out from the back but give it away again. The resulting shot is saved by Jonny but spills to ….. Archie who makes no mistake from the tight angle. 2-1. The Dockers trailing. Lee nearly levels when he gets clear on 51 but his shot is wide. We get a bit of lucky as the Billie's striker is clearly pulled back in the Docker's box but the ref isn't interested. Phew! Luca and Cal have now swapped wings so both are on their favoured foot. It has a great impact as Cal's great cross from the left finds Shonk at the far post on 61 ⚽. 2-2. It's Cal on the left again as he pulls it back for Lee on 65 ⚽. Dockers leading again. 2-3. The Hurst are pressing and there is a minor disagreement between Koby and Archie(17). It turns into a big debate with lots of players joining in but he ref quickly calms it down and books both players. Archie then tries to continue the disagreement by going head to head with Bailie. Big mistake. HUGE. Silly boy. He is subbed shortly after. Good move as he wouldn't have last much longer before a second yellow. It's a big relief for the Dockers as he is such a threat on goal. The hosts pile on the pressure but can't put a good move together. The Dockers are defending for their lives and smashing everything clear. It's enough to hang on to the win. 2-3. Job done. Time to paddle off home.

The Dockers are on another cup run. And through to the 2nd round of the County Cup for the 3rd year in a row. Didn't get there in 2021, funny that. Tonight was another game that wasn't a great watch and with some major SBT at the end. They hung on somehow and scored enough at the other end to get the job done. We were glad to see the Billie's no. 17 on the bench. Like we predicted he was a handful when he came on and put them in the lead finishing well. He's a tricky and pacey player so we were very happy when he was subbed off. Although we had to celebrate quietly as his mum and dad were near us in the crowd. There were a lot of lack lustre performances and we can see a few changes being made for Saturday. Josh got a bit shouty when it was all going a bit Pete Tong (like another Tuck we know). Hope he's not too badly injured. Finally, at least towards the end, the wingers were playing on their proper side. Should be a rule banning inverted wingers. Might start a petition📝. The new/stand-in keeper did OK. Their first goal was bound for the top corner and he did really well to even get a hand on it. Thanks to the ground staff for making and keeping the pitch playable in such bad weather. It was starting to cut up a bit but was so much better than a lot of pitches out there. An "enjoyable" trip into darkest West Sussex. Just got to wait for the 2nd round draw now. Hopefully someone that we have a chance of beating and not get a battering from like the last couple of years. Off home to dry out now. There was a game at Fort Road tonight. Eastbourne Utd beating Wick 4-0. No news of what time the ferry came in. Will have to check the match report.

POTM: A lot of poor performances out there but Cal got a couple of crucial assists so gets the award.

This ref doesn't seem to have consistency in his skill set. Or does he?. It was a difficult game in the rain to be fair. And speaking of rain, how does a linesperson wearing glasses see in what was fairly constant rain? Not criticising, just curious. Also the linesperson wearing glasses in the rain was by far the better of the 2. "No glasses" didn't get much right but it did even up in the 2nd half.

Scran'o'meter loved the milky hot chocolate, 9/10.

See you soon.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Arrived at Billie

Got dark quick

Tonight's teams