Moore keen to keep hold of star Davies

Sep 4 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

RONNIE MOORE hopes the “thunder feet” of Steve Davies will be frightening opponents of Tranmere Rovers for longer than just the next few months.

The hot teenage prospect looks sure to remain at Prenton Park at least until the next transfer window opens in January, after Leeds United failed with several attempts to prise him away before last Friday’s August deadline.

Rovers say they are trying to persuade Davies to make a longer-term commitment by signing an extension to his existing contract, which runs out next summer.

In the meantime the 19-year-old winger shows no sign of allowing the transfer speculation to dull the sharper edge he has added to this game this summer.

Davies rescued a point for Tranmere by scoring with a free-kick of deadly power and accuracy in the final seconds of the 1-1 draw at Yeovil last Saturday.

Manager Moore said: “I hope Davo will get a lot more goals because he is going to be with us at least until January. He is a threat to whoever we play against.

“He just has to keep his concentration on playing games. We want him to play and perform in the way he did it Yeovil.”

Moore insists Davies is not the only Tranmere player to be the subject of a transfer offer this summer. But the youngster from South Liverpool is attracting widespread attention on the strength of his compelling form for Rovers since the start of the summer pre-season friendlies.

Moore added: “We have put an offer to Davo and his advisers to stay here. He has to make a decision on where he sees his future.

“On the field he is coping okay with the situation and concentrating on his football. The other part is down to him. He has to make a decision.”

Moore can take some of the credit for switching Davies from centre-forward to the left-sided role in which he is now thriving.

Davies scored with his right foot in Tranmere’s 2-0 win at Gillingham last month and found the top corner of the Yeovil net with his left. That prompted Moore to declare: “Davo has thunder in both feet.”

He adds: “I believe Davo is going to get more goals from dead-ball situations. He and Chris Shuker are forever practising free-kicks in training and they can both put the ball on a postage stamp. It means we are more of a threat from set-plays than we used to be.”

Davies will be hoping to add to his tally when Tranmere take on Morecambe in the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy tonight.

Rovers have a fresh crop of injury doubts for the first-round tie at Prenton Park (kick-off 7pm).

Centre-back Ian Goodison, left back Shane Sheriff and midfielder Paul McLaren picked up knocks at Yeovil while tall strikers Calvin Zola (hamstring) and Gareth Taylor (broken rib) remain sidelined.

Moore is likely to take the opportunity to give summer signings Adnan Ahmed and Anthony Kay a first start of the season.

Left back Carl Tremarco and goalkeeping coach John Achterberg could also feature against the Football League newcomers.

Moore said: “Even if I wanted to give one or two people a rest, it would be difficult with the injuries we have. We want to do things right in this competition. The games in the early stages don’t get the best gates and it is same all over the country.

“But the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy is a realistic opportunity for League One clubs to play at Wembley and that should be enough incentive for everyone.”

Tranmere have slashed admission prices and brought forward the kick-off time to 7pm in the hope of attracting more families and children into Prenton Park tonight.

Admission for adults is £7 and £3 for concessions.