IAN THOMAS-MOORE had the decisive final word in a game of three missed penalties with a predatory strike 10 minutes from time that secured Tranmere’s first win since November.

The experienced front man was one of two Rovers players to see second-half spot kicks saved by Carlisle goalkeeper Adam Collin as the home side sought to add to a spectacular 40th minute opener from Ian Goodison.

It then looked as if Tranmere would pay the price for the spot kick failures when James Barrett fired the Cumbrians level on 78 minutes.

But two minutes later Thomas-Moore capitalised on a mistake by centre back Peter Murphy to fire a venomous shot into the top corner of the net to deliver three valuable League One points and delight the bank holiday crowd at Prenton Park.

Les Parry’s team just about deserved the success for a strong and enterprising second-half performance, in a game packed full of incident and excitement.

But they were second best in much of the first half when Carlisle played the more cohesive football. The visitors failed to take advantage of the early superiority and missed several opportunities, including a penalty that was fired over the bar by Murphy.

Craig Curran, making his first return to Prenton Park since a summer move to Carlisle, did his best to make an early impression. It took resourceful work from centre-backs Scott Wootton and Goodison to deny Curran close range chances.

The Cumbrians should have gone ahead on 16 minutes when Tranmere full-back Tim Cathalina thrust up his arm to handle a right-wing corner from Berrett, conceding a penalty. However, Murphy lifted the spot-kick high onto the Kop.

The recalled Dale Jennings created Tranmere’s first opportunity on 23 minutes with a teasing cross from the left that was headed a yard over the bar by Enoch Showunmi. Tranmere struggled to get wide players Lateef Elford-Alliyu and Jennings into the game during the first half but they took the lead with a goal out of the blue five minutes before the interval.