TRANMERE ROVERS are confident they can break free of winter’s icy grip and return to action with a League One home game against Leyton Orient tomorrow afternoon.

As rising temperatures thaw out the Prenton Park pitch, manager Les Parry is looking to ensure his team can crank back into gear and pick up the momentum they were generating before the big freeze set in two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Rovers won four out of six league games to climb clear of the relegation places and some of the injury problems that caused Parry to field a patched up team in their last outing, a 1-0 home defeat to Hartlepool on November 23, have eased since then.

Parry said: “We lost only a couple of times in eight games before we played Hartlepool.

“Hopefully the lads will remember what it was like to be winning games and can pick up where they left off.

“We have almost a full squad in terms of players who are able to train. But the fact is they have not trained much because we have not been able to get onto the training ground.

“So although we have players who are getting over their injuries, they still need to get some training time under their belts.”

Tranmere scheduled an afternoon start to training yesterday and today to give the sun time to thaw out the Raby Vale training ground.

They have been able to work outdoors only rarely over the past fortnight, training as best they can in sport halls and gymnasiums.

Parry will be taking a close look at how Enoch Showunmi, Sam Morrow and Tim Cathalina react on the training ground.

Target man Showunmi has been nursing a knee injury that forced him to miss the Hartlepool game while striker Morrow and full-back Cathalina have hamstring strains.

Parry said: “We are almost at a full complement of players. Tim and Sam will join in training even though they are not quite ready.

“We think Enoch is doing OK but we have not been able to test him because we have been inside on gym floors or Astroturf.

“We left him out of quite a lot of our sessions because Astroturf does not do his knee any favours.”

Rovers have not been helped by decisions to postpone the League One game at Exeter City and the two attempts to stage the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy northern semi-final against Huddersfield Town being taken on match day.

Parry said: “What was frustrating was that most of the games were not called off until pretty late.

“We had to go through all of the motions of preparing for them, knowing there was a good chance they would not go ahead. If there is plenty of notice, you can plan.”

Tranmere must do without midfielder Joss Labadie for the match tomorrow as he completes a suspension.

While Parry acknowledges Tranmere could be “a little rusty” after more than two weeks without a game, Orient came through a gruelling FA Cup replay against Droylsden on Tuesday night in which they won 8-2 after extra-time and had two players, centre-backs Ben Chorley and Terrell Forbes, sent off.

The pair will both miss the game at Prenton Park though suspension.

That gives Orient manager Russell Slade a selection headache and he will probably fall back on on-loan Andrew Whing and Aaron Brown in the absence of his two first-choice defenders.

Slade was critical of Forbes and ex-Rovers man Chorley.

He said: “I agree with the referee (on the sending off of Forbes).

“Terrell came from behind and the rules are when that happens and you’re off the floor, it’s a sending-off.

“The second (for Chorley) was for a second yellow card and the referee was right to dismiss him.”

Slade could be without more key players tomorrow with fitness doubts over Jimmy Smith and Scott McGleish.

The London club last won at Prenton Park some 23 years ago in 1987.