TRANMERE attempt to throw off the lingering effects of the flu epidemic at Prenton Park as they chase the coat-tails of the League One front-runners tonight.
By the time Rovers play host to high-riding Scunthorpe United (kick-off 7.45pm) manager Ronnie Moore hopes the worst symptoms of the bug will have passed through his squad.
As many as half a dozen players who featured in the 1-0 defeat at Yeovil last Saturday were affected on an afternoon when Tranmere were further weakened by having four key players missing through suspension and personal commitments.
Moore will be able to strengthen by bringing right-back Ryan Shotton and the versatile Antony Kay back into the side after the pair completed one-match bans last weekend. But Steve Jennings misses out again because his suspension runs into a second game and centre-back Ian Goodison is not expected back from Jamaica, where he is awaiting the birth of his child.
Moore says priority number one is to make up some of the eight points of ground that now separate Tranmere from the teams in the division’s top six.
That won’t be easy given that the visit of third-placed Scunthorpe is followed 12 days later by a home game against the bookmakers’ promotion favourites, Leeds United. In between, Tranmere will attempt to keep their FA Cup ambitions alive through a difficult, second round visit to Peterborough, currently lying fifth in the table.
Even so, Moore regards the tough sequence as “three wonderful games”.
He added: “What we have to do now is close the gap quickly on the teams at the top by going on a decent run. We have some tough games coming up but they are great games to look forward to.
“The point about this division is that eight points isn’t a lot. We are capable of closing the gap. It is a matter of us being confident. We have players returning from suspension who will make us stronger.”
Goodison’s anticipated absence means Kay is most likely to return to the side at centre-back, leaving the midfield anchor role to Mark Wilson, the well-travelled 29-year-old signed on loan from Doncaster last week.
Moore says he has “no worries” about the abilities of Scunthorpe-born Wilson, likening his passing skills to those of former Rovers play-maker Paul McLaren.
The manager is more concerned that players such as Gareth Edds, Ian Moore, Chris Shuker, Ed Sonko and Aaron Cresswell shake off the effects of the virus that sapped their energy levels at Huish Park.
“I don’t see is playing anything like we did in Yeovil,” Moore said. “The lads know what is at stake.”
Scunthorpe relinquished the leadership of the division by losing 2-1 at home to new front runners Leicester City last Saturday but The Iron continue to punch above their weight at League One level. Moore reckons the organisational and tactical discipline instilled into the side by manager Nigel Adkins is a major factor in Scunthorpe’s success.
He said: “We are playing against a side who are very difficult to beat. They are well drilled in that the players all know what they are doing. They play a 4-4-2 system that stays solid. They don’t have lazy wingers, they have hard-working wingers who drop back to make sure they keep their shape.
“We came up against a team like that when we played Millwall and we could not break them down. Basically that’s the kind of thing we are trying to do ourselves. You want your wingers, whoever they are, to have the energy to get forward, deliver then get back to take their breather when we are in the shape of a 4-4-2.”
