IF only this one had been on the telly, then the nation’s armchair football fans would have gained a very different impression of Tranmere Rovers than the one they took from watching last Thursday’s grinding FA Cup replay win over Accrington on Setanta.

The 5,019 paying customers inside Prenton on Saturday were regally entertained and kept on the edge of their seats until the final whistle.

The game had cracking goals, bizarre goals and a torrent of near misses, mostly in the Southend goalmouth, not to mention a subplot of rising tensions that led to two red cards in the final 20 minutes.

Tranmere, putting together the most compelling 45 minutes of attacking football they have produced all season, should have had the contest won by half-time. Five goals before the interval would not have flattered Ronnie Moore’s team. They had to settle for the two finished with finesse by Ian Moore and Bas Savage in the opening quarter hour and still could not take an advantage as Southend replied with a pair of goals that owed much to good fortune.

Rovers, rather than being fatigued by a second game in three days, were energised. Some of their football fizzed like champagne released from a shaken bottle.

After a run of games in which goals had become scarce at both ends of the field, this was a timely reminder of Tranmere’s potential to play exciting football. The Prenton Park regulars showed their appreciation with a rousing ovation at the final whistle, even though the result was a disappointment.

There were several positive elements at work. The manager tweaked the team’s tactics by adding an extra attacking player, Chris Greenacre, and they returned to playing a 4-4-2 formation with relish.

Southend, one of the better teams in League One, came with positive intentions of their own.

The result was a good advert for League One football but not a perfect one, because players on both sides lost some discipline and referee Craig Pawson lost some control in the final phase.

The source of most of the aggravation was a running battle between Tranmere skipper Antony Kay and Southend’s Lee Sawyer. The pair took a dislike to each other from fairly early on and niggling exchanges of words, pushes, prods and tackles escalated.

Kay was on a yellow card from the 11th minute for a mistimed challenge on Southend full-back Dan Harding. Sawyer went into the book on the half-hour for a foul on Kay.

Each of them diced with a second yellow but it was Southend striker Francis Laurent and Tranmere midfielder Steve Jennings who made the misjudgements that cost them dismissals.