IAN GOODISON returns to defensive duty for Tranmere this weekend with manager Ronnie Moore no nearer to finding a winning formula without him.

The 36-year-old centre-back takes his place at the heart of the Rovers rearguard at Leyton Orient tomorrow after completing a successful week of international duty with Jamaica.

Goodison played a big part in keeping the Jamaicans’ World Cup qualifying hopes alive with 1-0 wins over Mexico last Saturday and Honduras on Wednesday, both in Kingston.

The back-to-back successes mean Jamaica could yet make the final round of qualification in the Concacaf zone. They will require a home victory over Canada in the final Group Two game on Wednesday, November 19, while Mexico beat Honduras on the same day.

Meanwhile Tranmere struggled once again in Goodison’s absence, losing 3-1 at home to Millwall last Saturday. The result left Rovers with a record of six defeats and one draw from the eight League One games the defensive strongman has missed over the past year.

Manager Ronnie Moore grows more determined than ever to overcome the problem because Jamaican success on the field is likely to prolong Goodison’s commitments away from Prenton Park. Nor does he expect the patriotic Goodison to call time on his international career for the sake of Tranmere’s domestic success.

Moore said: “The Goodison issue keeps coming back and it haunts everyone. We can’t be a one-man team.

“If Ian Goodison is away on international duty we should be good enough to deal with it and achieve results without him.

“If I was in the shoes of the defenders here, like Ben Chorley, Godwin Antwi and Antony Kay, I would be gutted if I did not think I could replace Ian Goodison. We have got to get the mentality right.

“Goody had two wonderful games for Jamaica and the wins over Mexico and Honduras have given them an outside chance of qualifying. So we have to face the prospect of being without him again.”

Moore admits to broaching the subject of international retirement on several occasions with Goodison, who boasts more than 100 international caps.

The manager said: “It would be nice if Ian came to me and said the Canada game was the last international he’s going to play.

“But I don’t see that happening. I think he loves playing for his country and his family are over there when he goes back.

“He is 36 now but he could be any age. He’s like Peter Pan. He just keeps going.”

Jamaica’s World Cup hopes were revived after a former Tranmere player, Theo Whitmore, was placed in interim charge of team affairs for the last two games. John Barnes, the former Liverpool and England winger, is due to take over as coach at the start of next month.

Rovers also have Ed Sonko back in the selection frame at Brisbane Road after the wide man returned from World Cup qualifying duty with Gambia.

Moore says both will play in a line-up showing some changes from the side that performed so disappointingly against Millwall last week.

He said: “We know what the problem was last weekend and we have taken steps to put it right.

“We had nine players off the pace and I’m not expecting that to happen again.”

The top priority, Moore says, is to tighten up the defensive discipline in a side that has leaked 19 goals in 10 League One games so far this season.

Moore added: “At the moment the averages say we are having to score three goals to win a game. That’s got to improve.”

Young striker Craig Curran is ruled out of contention tomorrow by a stomach strain.

The injury could keep him on the sidelines for up to four weeks. Otherwise Moore has a strong selection hand to choose from.

A change of tactics is also a possibility. Moore may be tempted to deploy the 4-5-1 system that worked so effectively in Tranmere’s last away game, a 2-1 win at Carlisle a fortnight ago.