A second goal did arrive on 26 minutes via a swiftly mounted counter-attack. This time Tranmere were caught by a long ball from the back by Jonathan Douglas that put both Beckford and Kilkenny clear of the defenders. Beckford was able to nudge the ball on for Kilkenny, whose precise shot had the beating of the advancing Coyne and made the tight angle to find the net.

Leeds then handed a goal straight back to Tranmere when centre-back Sodje, failing to notice that Ankergren had advanced towards the edge of his area, nodded an intended back pass over the goalkeeper’s head and watched in horror as the ball bounced gently into the net.

Tranmere then wasted a succession of opportunities to turn the gift into a platform for victory.

Kay headed wide of a gaping target after Charlie Barnett’s 36th- minute corner picked him out at the far post. Six minutes later Ed Sonko, played in by a flick from Bas Savage, screwed his effort wide of the target from a dozen yards.

The pattern continued after the break as Ankergren made a resourceful save from Kay’s venomous 20-yard shot then gratefully clutched Shotton’s close-range effort from the rebound.

A Tranmere goal at this point might well have injected a note of anxiety into the big home crowd but instead, Leeds added to their lead with a streaky third goal on 56 minutes.

A free-kick from the left by Snograss, flicked on by Beckford, struck Luciano Becchio on the knee and bobbled into the net.

Rovers plugged away gamely in search of a route back into the contest through the final half-hour, losing Savage to an injury and giving on-loan teenage winger Robbie Burns a first taste of league action along the way. But they could not fashion another clear-cut opening.