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Kithson fails to ease
the Bain
Sunday 13th
September, 2009
By Richard Ault
The long-awaited introduction of Kithson Bain failed to lift the
gloom at Prenton Park as another shocking defensive display
gifted Walsall three points and led to anti-Barnes protests at
full-time.
John
Barnes had called on the fans to support the team before the game,
and they did just that. The atmosphere was understandably
muted at times, but the backing the Prenton Park faithful gave
their faltering side in the second half could not be faulted.
On the
pitch however, it was a familiar story. The side showed no
back bone as a Walsall side that hadn't scored a goal in
four matches ran a mock - and ran away with three points.
Rovers
are now on their worst losing run since they last lost six on
the spin in 1973/74 season. Barnes will make more un-wanted
history if his side lose at Exeter next week as well - it will
be the first time in more than 50 years the club has lost seven
on the bounce, the 1938/39 season the last time that happened.
Team news
New boy
Bain was added to the subs bench after finally completing all
the necessary paper work for his move to the Wirral last week.
Michael Ricketts was handed a start alongside Craig Curran due
to Ian Thomas-Moore's injury, and Marlon Broomes joined Ian
Goodison at the heart of the defence with Gareth Edds also
coming in at right back due to Shaleum Logan's suspension.
The match
When the
season begun, the warning signs were there. Celtic fans
warned of impending doom under Barnes and fans of other clubs
mocked our double appointment of Barnes and McAteer.
In
typical Tranmere fashion, the majority of fans came together in
light of this. Any anger about the dismissal of Ronnie
Moore was pushed to the back of our minds, and we were
applauding and supporting Barnes' in the early weeks, happy to
give him his chance of succeeding, of implementing a brash,
attractive and attacking style of football most fans at this
level can only dream of.
Say what
you want about our fans, but we've never really been the kind to
go off what 'outsiders' say, we make our own minds up. We
give people a fair chance to prove themselves regardless of
their history elsewhere. After all, how many times have we
ended up with players ridiculed or not wanted elsewhere, only to
take them in and make them our own, of giving them belief to
succeed? Barnesy had our backing, perhaps not as strong as
some before him, but on match days the fans were, by and large,
with him.
A couple
of months on, walking out of Prenton Park on Saturday was a more
than sobering experience. Consecutive defeat number six
was too much for many. The ease with which Walsall, and
those teams in weeks previous, scored their winning goals was
painful. You have to ask yourself, what constitutes a
'fair chance' for Barnes? I'd never normally contemplate
any club getting rid of a manager so early, but already the odds
are stacked against Barnes, and we are falling away at the wrong
end of the division.
So what
of the Walsall game?
Well it
started okay. Rovers tried to enforce a quick pace,
harrying Walsall all over the pitch. Straight away McLaren
and Welsh looked more combative whilst Shuker and Mahon started
like men with a point to prove. Ricketts, enjoying his
first start for Tranmere, went close early on with an
instinctive effort from 25 yards that swerved over the bar.
Minutes
later and Tranmere got the goal their early endeavours merited.
A robust tackle by Ricketts saw the ball ricochet to Curran who
managed to thread the ball to Shuker in behind the Walsall
defence. Shuker checked inside twice to give himself a
free-shot on the keeper. He moved the ball back onto his
right foot and finished neatly to give the home side the lead.
Although
the football wasn't really free-flowing, there were some neat
interchanges and Rovers looked to get the ball wide at every
opportunity. The fans warmed to the efforts being shown on
the pitch too, as Welsh and McLaren started to snap into 50/50
tackles that they simply have not been doing all season.
The
movement of the experienced Darren Byfield and youngster Troy
Deeney was keeping Broomes and Goodison on their toes, but both
looked solid enough. Broomes especially looked dominant in
the air, the addition of another experienced centre half to the
backline was more than welcome, and it looked to settle the team
down a little too.
Tranmere
still edged proceedings but couldn't really create anything
clear-cut going forward as the visitors pushed their back four
further and further forward. They limited space for the
Rovers attacking players and slowly snuffed out any threat in
the remainder of the half.
Just as
it looked as though Rovers would maintain their lead going into
the interval, disaster struck, twice. Firstly, Richard
Taundry shot at goal from distance, his shot parried away by
Daniels. Unfortunately, Byfield reacted first to ram the
ball past the floored Tranmere keeper and level things up.
That was
bad enough, but worse was to follow in injury time when Daniels
recieved a heavy challenge on his knee after saving at the feet
of Deeney in a one-on-one. As a result, Daniels was subbed
at half-time, being replaced by youngster Joe Collister.
Rovers also lost Broomes at half-time, the big centre half going
off due to illness.
Rovers
were clearly rocked by the double blow, and only seconds into
the second half they found themselves behind, Collister helpless
to stop a powerful close-range drive by Deeney after Broomes'
replacement Ash Taylor could only clear as far as the Walsall
striker.
The
visitors were now dominant. Collister produced a stunning
reaction to save away to his right to deny Deeney, whilst
Nicholls and Byfield both had chances to double their advantage.
Fearing
he was losing grip of the game, Barnes introduced the man we've
been talking about for weeks. Grenada striker Kithson Bain
replaced Shuker, Bain joining Ricketts upfront and Curran going
wide right.
His
first touch was greeted with encouragment from the home fans as
he battled between two Walsall defenders. You get the
feeling Kithson won't have to do much more than show some
passion and score a couple of goals to become a real hero.
We're desperate for someone to come and lift the feeling of
gloom around the place, Mr Bain could be that man.
To be
fair he didn't have too many chances to show what he was about,
a couple of good touches, lay-offs and bursts of pace all we got
to see. He did though play a role in Tranmere's equaliser,
so much so, the Tranmere website credited him with it.
Alan
Mahon picked up possession around 25 yards from goal and wound
back that left foot that, around a decade ago, we became so used
to seeing cause havoc. Mahon's strike deflected off Bain's
head and looped over Walsall 'keeper Rene Gilmartin into the top
corner. 2-2, and Prenton Park was all of a sudden noisy
again.
As
Rovers pushed for the winner, Mahon turned from hero to villain.
He had possession on the left wing but delayed the chance to
release Bain in behind the high Walsall defence. He was
dispossessed and Nicholls skinned Goodison on the right and
crossed to the far post for Deeney to turn home. 2-3.
The fans
lifted themselves again, trying to do whatever it would take to
help their side avoid another defeat. Another Mahon strike
from distance went close, whilst pain nearly toe-poked the ball
in from close range after the Saddlers made a meal of defending
a corner.
It was
all in vain though as Walsall hung on to take three points and
increase the pressure on John Barnes.
The good
The bad
Man of the match
Michael
Ricketts - the best of a bad bunch, the powerful striker is
still badly short of fitness but showed some neat touches.
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