Tranmerekat on Tour: May 2025

Tranmere Rovers face Newport County In EFL 2 at Rodney Parade

The White's last game of the season is away to the Exiles. Hoping we get a welcome that’s as warm as the Welsh weather. The Rovers finally secured their place in the Football league next season with a win against Crewe last Saturday. Been a while since the Kop has seen scenes like that as it was bouncing for 90 minutes with white smoke at the end ushering Andy Crosby as the new Pope. Prenton Park is our church after all. A win today would move us away from the relegation zone and give history a very different view of how close we came to going over the cliff edge. Today we can climb to a heady 20th or 88th in old money. That needs Accrington to lose which is something we always like to see. We're certainly up for it today, hope the players are too. The team is the same as Andy has settled on with LOC ,Tom and Jordan as a back 3. Sam Taylor makes a rare appearance but it’s nice to see him as wing back opposite Cameron Norman. Jake Garrett gets a start alongside Merrie in the middle. The front 3 are Dennis, Morris and Patrick. No idea what music they are playing at Rodney Parade, maybe they need to invest in a better sound system. It’s a dead rubber game with both teams safe but both are also hurting after poor seasons. It could be really flat as the players' minds start to head for the beach but we remain hopeful that the boys want to go out on a high after last week's euphoria.

There is no taking the knee here or fancy fireworks here. Straight into the football. The Exiles get in the first shot in but Luke saves it from range. The football is not great. It’s scrappy and broken up with a few half chances either way. Neither set of fans is generating much noise. The first decent chance comes on 23 as Newport score from outside the box through a host of bodies. Not what we want but we don't rollover these days. There is a tussle between Cameron Norman and the Exiles no. 14 Kai Whitmore on 27. Cameron ends up on the floor and Whitmore stamps on him. The ref is the wrong side to see it and so gives a yellow card. The fans are warming up a bit. And some, it’s sweltering in the stands 🥵. The SWA are in good voice and the Exiles chipping in now and then. The Lino on the far side is missing some howlers of offsides. Tranmere's first decent chance comes from Sam Taylor but it’s high and wide. Lee O’Connor is marking their striker Kyle Hutlin. It is comical as Lee is getting the best of the ball, even in the air, despite being 5’9” to the Exiles 6’ 9”. The Rovers equalise on 41 ⚽ as Jake Garrett's speculative long range shot is deflected and loops over the keeper. The SWA can smell blood and are bouncing behind the goal. The Whites are pushing for a second but it’s still level at the break. Time to cool off in the shade 😎.

There’s a change for the Rovers at the break as Josh Davison replaces Sam Taylor. It’s all Tranmere now. Morris sees his shot blocked. We finally take the lead on 51 as Kristian Dennis ⚽ volleys in from a Norman cross. It’s a great shot. 1-2 to the Rovers. The Tequila 🍸 is flowing in the away end. Dennis is replaced by Harvey Saunders on 63. That injects some energy 🏃‍♂️. The Exiles No. 14 poleaxes Jake Garrett on 66. It’s an easy second yellow and off he goes. Bye👋. Saunders has an impact as he sets up Omari Patrick to score from just outside the box on 70 ⚽. Josh Davison has to drag him across to celebrate with the SWA. Newport can’t cope with the Rovers attacks. Their fans start to stream out of the ground. “Is this a fire drill?” echoes round Rodney Parade. Wood comes on to replace Omari on the left. He starts to get some great crosses in. There are more changes on 77 as Josh Hawkes replaces Cameron on the right and Connor Jenning replaces Garrett in the middle. There is an immediate impact as Josh Hawkes sets up Josh Davison who blasts into the bottom corner on 78 ⚽. The SWA have shown great restraint, waiting until we’re 3 goals clear to start singing “We’re winning away” . Very sensible 👍. The Exiles Kyle Hudlin is subbed off on 81. It’s a shame as we were enjoying watching Lee humiliating him. It’s all Tranmere as we try to inspire Kieron Morris to score with his new song, “When the Tranmere rhythm starts to play…”, as he runs past us down the wing. The crowd are baying for more, singing “We want 5”. The fifth doesn’t come and it’s still 1-4 at 90+6. That’ll do. The home end is already empty but there is no-one leaving the away end. it’s bouncing as the players come over. There are a few lucky recipients of shirts and gloves. Andy Crosby is the last to leave the pitch to huge applause. Love him.

That was fantastic. What a day out and what a performance from the Whites. They never looked out of it at a goal down and the equaliser kicked off a momentum that never stopped. Not sure that Newport got another decent shot after the goal. Losing a player can’t have helped, ha-ha, but he was lucky to be on the pitch that long as he was as the first yellow should have been a red for stamping on Norman right in front of us. Today was very different from the football played under Adkins. Who knew that this team of players could actually play this well. Unbelievable Jeff. The SWA were awesome today too. There were a lot of empty seats but people probably migrated to the stand behind the goal to sing with their mates. The count is in. There were 811 in the away end out of a total of 5,465. That’s a fantastic turn out with nothing at stake at "not the best" of awaydays venues. The home end emptied long before the away end had finished singing. It’s new to us but we are loving Sway the Tranmere way. “When the Tranmere rhythm starts to play….” The subs worked well today. Well, as much as we love Harvey Saunders for his energy and endeavour, he isn’t the best with the ball at his feet. But he did play his part today running the backline ragged and getting an assist to boot. There will be a few in this group that we won’t see again. Connor Jennings must number amongst them. He has been a great servant to the club, twice, and a shining light in dark times. Hopefully they can find room for him next season. There are a few more that we would like to see again including Omari, Dennis LOC and Merrie. There are also a few (and some) that we would happily pay for a taxi to come and collect. The news from elsewhere is that Accrington lost 🎉 so we moved up 2 places to 20th 📈. Deceptively clear of the trap door. So it’s goodbye to the 24/25 season in League 2. Definitely one to be filed away as “Don’t go there again”. Will Andy Crosby be with us next season? We hope so if he’s not too busy being Pope. And then there's the impending takeover to come. Fingers crossed 🤞. Will the new shirt sponsor be Fenty or maybe Rihanna be designing the 3rd shirt. It’s not going to get dull in the world of Tranmere any time soon!

POTM: goes to Cameron ‘Storming’ Norman,🏅 creating loads of space and putting in loads of great crosses including 2 assists. Well done.

The officials were generally OK. The ref couldn’t have seen the stamp on Cameron so was never going to give a red. He did the right thing and the yellow got the job done in the end. The lino at our end must have forgotten his contacts as he couldn't see the Exiles players even if they were yards offside. Useless. Can’t remember any offsides at all so maybe the one at the other end was no better. Or they were waiting for VAR to do their jobs for them. Mike Dean was spotted in the ground so maybe it’s the league 2 VAR pilot.

The Scran’O’meter has decided that the yummy Greggs was out of scope so is unable to comment on the catering today. Except to moan about the bottle top police who confiscated the bottle of water that we took to Stamford Bridge last week and have taken to Wembley a few times. Bastards. Bottle in the ground had the tops removed. Good job we had some spares. 🤣

See you at Crawley.

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