ROBBIE WEIR is developing into a great player for Tranmere – according to his captain and central midfield partner John Welsh.

The Irishman has been an ever present in 16 League One games in his first full season at Prenton Park, contributing three goals and a string of consistent performances.

Welsh believes Weir is playing a significant role in pushing Rovers to the fringe of the play-off zone with a third of the campaign completed.

“Robbie is a great player,” Welsh declared.

“His game has really come on this season and he is doing well.

“He is up and down, all over the pitch.

“He is good on the ball, he can tackle and he is good in the air. He has everything about his game. I hope he can add to the goals he’s been scoring.”

Weir is the man most likely to venture forward from the central midfield station he shares with the more experienced Welsh, who says he is happy to assume the anchor role.

“I would say Robbie is a bit more creative than myself and he’s probably a bit better at shooting as well,” Welsh said.

“A lot of my shots seem to go over the bar.

“If Robbie keeps pushing up at the front of the pitch, then my duties lie at the other end and that’s fine by me. I don’t mind that side of the game.”

Weir, 22, spent the final three months of last season on loan to Tranmere from Sunderland, playing 16 games.

The transfer was made permanent during the summer after Weir was released from his contract with the Black Cats.

Weir played a couple of games at full back last season but manager Les Parry has kept him at the heart of a team punching above their weight in the current campaign.

Welsh reckons work-rate is one of the key elements helping to keep Tranmere comfortably in the top half of the table on a budget for players that is among the lowest in the division.

“You have to look at the work-rate of the side,” Welsh said.

“It is unbelievable how much the likes of Enoch Showunmi, Lucas Akins, Adam McGurk and Mustafa Tiryaki are doing for the team.

“I said to Lucas after the Hartlepool game that he deserved his two goals that night for the work-rate he put in over the last seven or eight games.

“He has been up there with the best players on the pitch.”

Tranmere could not keep the winning sequence going, losing for the first time in seven league and cup games at Scunthorpe last Saturday. But Parry and his players are confident the setback won’t knock them out of their stride.

Welsh said: “We’re doing pretty well at the moment.

“We are giving ourselves a chance by keeping a lot of clean sheets and you’ve got to give credit to the goalkeeper and the back four for that.

“We’ve had one or two disappointments with a lot of good results as well.

“We are in a good position. We have difficult games coming up at every game seems to be difficult in this league.

“We have faced a lot of the top teams, the likes of Huddersfield, Charlton and Preston and played well against them.

“We should have taken more points in those games but performance wise we are up there with the best teams in this division.”

“If we can keep it going who knows where it will lead.”