IF the mark of a good side is the ability to conjure up moments of high quality football to win tight games, then Tranmere have good reason to be satisfied about Saturday’s victory at Prenton Park.

Patience, persistence and pressure were not proving sufficient on their own to carve out a break in the lines of resistance erected by Walsall.

Rovers needed the sweetest of long-range strikes from midfielder Robbie Weir to finally make the breakthrough just before the hour mark. And after the Saddlers unexpectedly snatched an equaliser on 73 minutes, Les Parry’s team responded by scoring an even better winning goal seven minutes later.

It was finished from close range by substitute Mustafa Tiryaki but the beauty was in the succession of rapid one-touch passes that sliced open the Walsall defence and created the opening.

A second home win in eight days lifted Rovers to eighth place in the League One table and to within two points of the play-offs zone.

Travelling supporters won’t need reminding that the boot was on the other foot last month when Rovers suffered defeats at Huddersfield and Preston because the opposition trumped their best efforts with high-class goals. So there is encouragement to be drawn from this reversal of fortune.

Walsall could certainly have taken great advantage of a sluggish start by Rovers, who struggled to find cohesion in the opening 20 minutes.

They were the first to put an effort on goal when Alex Nicholls’ shot sent goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams sprawling on 18 minutes, then retreated into defence.