TRANMERE subsided under the burden of more handicaps than they could cope with on a grey, chilly November afternoon in the West Country.

Rovers might have been able to scramble through without four first team regulars if the quartet of absentees – suspended trio Ryan Shotton, Antony Kay and Steve Jennings as well as Ian Goodison – had not been such influential figures in the side.

They would probably have been able to mount a more energetic resistance if several players were not labouring under the effects of a flu virus.

And they still might have salvaged something from the afternoon if Yeovil had not dug deep themselves, following an FA Cup thrashing at Stockport last Tuesday, to produce their most vigorous and spirited performance in weeks.

But there wasn’t enough fuel in the tank to take Ronnie Moore’s patched up team through all of the obstacles in front of them at Huish Park. They came up short. And while the defeat was costly in dropping Rovers eight points adrift of the play-off positions, it was an afternoon to take the medicine and move on.

Two of players missing through suspension on Saturday, right-back Shotton and the versatile Kay, will be available for tomorrow night’s home encounter with promotion chasers Scunthorpe United.

Players such as Ian Moore, Gareth Edds and Ed Sonko should be in better physical shape than they were on Saturday, when the effects of the bug in the camp took the edge off their game.

Scunthorpe, who relinquished the leadership of the division over weekend, can be relied upon to give Tranmere a searching examination at Prenton Park.

Yeovil, near the foot of the table and in a run of three successive defeats before Saturday, looked like the ideal team for Tranmere to face when their own hand was weakened.

But manager Russell Slade coaxed a bold and spirited performance from the Glovers, who were given rousing encouragement from the locals as they secured their second home victory of the campaign.

“That was an awesome result,” Slade enthused after Yeovil moved out of the bottom four. “The effort, the commitment and the attitude were terrific. We were very open and attacked with pace and energy. I don’t think Tranmere coped with our tempo in the first half.”

Tranmere were stretched in most departments though never embarrassed. The performance wasn’t blighted by major flaws and many of the new and unfamiliar faces in the line-up emerged with some credit.

Teenager Danny Holmes made a solid, hard-working debut at right back, Godwin Antwi delivered one of his most assured displays at the heart of the defence and Mark Wilson, the loan player recruited from Doncaster, played the midfield anchor role with a tidy assurance.

But there were not enough strong elements driving the Rovers performance. A 4-5-1 formation could not give the back four the kind of protection they were looking for in the first half. Nor could the side find the creative edge to seriously threaten an equaliser after switching to a more positive 4-4-2 system after the interval.

The afternoon began encouragingly for the visitors, who had little trouble in repulsing the Somerset club’s tentative early attacks.

Indeed, Tranmere carved out a half chance to snatch a sixth minute lead when Edds made a well-timed run into the box to meet a right wing cross from Holmes and directed his header just wide of the right-hand post.

But Yeovil had begun to build some momentum into their attacks by the time they went ahead on 23 minutes.

Rovers were punished for slack marking at a free-kick on the edge of the box. Danny Schofield declined the opportunity to shoot, instead rolling the ball square for centre-back Terry Skiverton, who was unchallenged to curl a precise shot into the top corner of goalkeeper Danny Coyne’s net.

As Yeovil’s confidence grew, Coyne did well to keep out a fierce deflected shot from Gary Roberts and was grateful to see striker Gavin Tomlin drive the rebound into the side netting.

Ben Chorley then cleared under his own crossbar after Tomlin’s run had opened up Tranmere and Rovers needed good fortune on their side on 38 minutes when Aidan Downes’ cross from the right cleared Chorley and left Tomlin with an unchallenged header eight yards from goal. The striker nodded it tamely at Coyne.

There was still time before the break for Downes to hit the outside of the post and for Paul Warne to force Coyne into a diving save.

Tranmere’s more ambitious second half formation, with Chris Greenacre on as a second striker and Sonko introduced on the right, succeeded in wresting the initiative.

Manager Moore threw 18-year-old Aaron Cresswell on for the subdued Chris Shuker on 70 minutes but Tranmere became increasingly vulnerable to counter-attacks as they pressed vainly forward.