MANSFIELD TOWN staged a 100th anniversary party on Saturday in which just about every player on the books at Field Mill was invited to take part.

Manager David Holdsworth crammed 22 names onto his team sheet and used every one of them, making 11 second-half substitutions.

The wholesale refreshment of the home side presented Tranmere with the most daunting physical challenge of the pre-season programme so far. The response of manager Les Parry was to make no significant changes of his own. He preferred to test the strength and resilience of the starting XI until the 79th minute withdrawal of triallist Bakary Bojang.

The pattern of the contest was predictable. Tranmere, marginally the more effective of the two teams in the opening half, were comfortable at first in protecting the lead earned by skipper Ian Thomas-Moore’s 27th minute goal. But they were pressed deeper into defence the longer the second half wore on, eventually conceding an 85th minute equaliser to substitute Kyle Nix during a heavy spell of home pressure.

Parry was content to assess the team shape and pattern of play, not to mention a trio of triallists, and to identify areas of the team performance that can be worked on over the last fortnight of preparations for the League One campaign.

Tranmere’s creative football was less impressive than it was against Championship side Nottingham Forest the previous Wednesday. The passes did not flow, the movement was not quite so sharp. Set plays delivered Rovers’ best scoring opportunities – and the goal.

Bojang, the triallist from Denmark looking to make a big impression in his third outing, found few opportunities to create an impact. The Conference side were well organised in defence throughout.