MANAGER Ronnie Moore aims to whet the appetite of the Prenton Park faithful for Tranmere’s new style of football this week.

The pre-season schedule brings Rovers home for friendlies against Premier League giants Bolton Wanderers tonight (kick-off 7.45pm) and Championship club Blackpool on Saturday (kick-off 3pm)

After four games on the road, Moore is satisfied his squad are gaining the measure of the 4-3-3 formation he wants to make the tactical staple for the new League One campaign.

But the opposition now becomes more demanding than anything Rovers have faced since they kicked off the summer with a sold-out visit from Liverpool on July 12.

“I imagine Bolton will be sending their first-team here and I’m hoping we can give a good account of ourselves,” Moore said.

“It will be a good test for our lads. We’ve had two-and-a-half weeks of training and playing matches since the Liverpool game and we are beginning to see the movement we want from the midfield players and the forwards.

“We scored a lot of goals against local non-League teams and in the first half at Morecambe last Saturday (where Tranmere won 2-1) I thought we played some great attacking football and made a League Two team struggle against us for 45 minutes.

“I’m pleased. If we can produce that kind of attacking football, getting people into the opposition box from all areas, then I’m confident we will score more goals from midfield than we did last season.”

Bolton, likely to include £15million new signings Johan Elmander and Fabrice Muamba, will be playing their third pre-season game of the summer at Prenton Park.

They drew 0-0 at Rochdale and lost 1-0 at Macclesfield last week. They are due to play two games in Greece, against Aris Thessalonika and AEK Athens next week.

Manager Gary Megson, who kept Bolton in the Premier League by the skin of their teeth last season, says he isn’t worried by the team’s lack of goals so far this summer.

Megson says: “People put too much emphasis on results at this time of year. From my point of view it is about fitness, match practice and not getting players injured.

“If I can pick from a fully fit squad of players when we kick-off the Premier League season on August 16 I will be a happy man, no matter what the results in pre-season have been.”

Moore says he shares Megson’s view – up to a point. He said: “I still like to win pre-season games because you can’t beat that winning feeling. It spreads confidence throughout the side.

“If we’re losing games to the likes of Heswall, Marine and Southport then you start to worry. If we lose to Liverpool or Bolton by the odd goal and made a competitive game of it, you don’t mind too much.

“But the last thing we want is for Bolton to come here and beat us by five goals.

“Looking back over my career, pre-season results don’t always give you a good guide to what’s going to happen when the competitive matches start.”

Rovers’ home supporters should have a first chance tonight to take a look at Charlie Barnett, the trialist who has been producing some eye-catching performances in warm-up games over the past fortnight.

The 19-year-old is looking to secure a contract with a league club after parting company this summer with Liverpool, where he was an influential player in the FA Youth Cup winning team.

Godwin Antwi, signed by Tranmere on a six-month loan from Anfield last Friday, is also likely to feature.

The 20-year-old Ghanaian has been recruited to fill the right-back spot in Moore’s squad.