ADAM MCGURK believes Tranmere must remember the lessons from last season after encountering the first potholes on the League One campaign road over the past couple of weeks.

Front man McGurk was a member of the Rovers squad that made an impressive start to the 2011/12 season, then slipped into a long run of poor results following a 4-2 defeat at Scunthorpe towards the end of October last year.

McGurk said: "I think how well we do this season will depend on how we deal with the setbacks that come our way.

"We only have to look at last season. We had a good start to the season, not as good as this one, but we were well placed by the end of October. Then we had a bad run of form that killed our play-off hopes.

"So we know what can happen. The people who were here last season know what happened to us. I hope that what happened last season will help us to avoid a repeat this time.

"Every team in the league loses a couple of games on the bounce. It is how we react to that blows that will determine how well we do."

Tranmere, unbeaten in a record-breaking 12-game run from the start of the season, lost for the first time at Bournemouth, then surrendered a 10-month unbeaten home record to Doncaster the following Tuesday. They steadied the ship with a 1-1 draw at home to Preston last Saturday.

They still lead the division, on goal difference ahead of Sheffield United, ahead of a return to League One action at Hartlepool next Wednesday after taking a diversion in the FA Cup with a first round tie at Braintree Town on Sunday.