MANAGER Ronnie Moore was left to rue Tranmere’s lack of killer instinct as a 3-1 defeat at Leeds United left their promotion ambitions hanging by a single thread.

“When the opportunities come you have to put the knife in – and we were not in a murderous mood,” Moore lamented.

He went on: “When you come to a place like Leeds you also have to defend well and unfortunately we did not.”

But Moore reckoned there was also much to admire in Rovers’ performance as they made a gallant attempt to check Leeds’ progress into a play-off spot.

Moore said: “I am not going to criticise the players because we felt we had to win the game and we had a real go. On another day we might well have got something out of the game with that performance.”

The result all but assured Leeds of a top-six finish. Rovers, currently holding sixth spot on 72 points, now have to hope Scunthorpe, two points behind in seventh, take little profit from two games in hand.

The Iron play host to relegation-threatened Northampton tomorrow and visit champions Leicester City on Friday night before Tranmere return to action with a home encounter with Yeovil on Saturday.

Moore said: “We still have it all to play for. Nothing has changed in terms of the race for sixth place, except that we have just two games remaining now.

“Scunthorpe probably expected us to lose to Leeds and we are happy they lost to MK Dons. So we keep going.