Competition from Craig Curran welcomed by Chris Greenacre

Sep 19 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

CHRIS GREENACRE is no stranger to leading from the front in the goalscoring stakes for Tranmere Rovers.

He finished as Rovers’ top marksman in his first two seasons at Prenton Park, with 18 and 19 strikes respectively, and heads the early-season charts with three goals.

But Greenacre says he is delighted to be faced with the threat of some serious competition this time – from hot young prospect Craig Curran.

The 18-year-old came off the bench to notch his first goal of the campaign and Tranmere’s winner at Carlisle 11 days ago.

Then the youngster followed up with an equaliser in Tranmere’s 2-1 home win over Luton last Friday – again after joining the action as a substitute.

Greenacre said: “For Craig to come on and score in those last two games was fantastic. He is picking up where he left off at the end of last season and making an impact on games.

“He is full of energy and enthusiasm. In fact sometimes you have to try and slow him down a little bit!”

Curran has been enjoying a fairytale start to his professional career since scoring with a first touch of his home debut against Brighton on Easter Monday last season.

The home-grown striker from South Liverpool, then just 17, notched a hat-trick against Brentford in the final game of the 2006-07 campaign.

He came back for the new season on with fierce determination to build on those early successes.

Lightly built and mobile, Curran is similar in stature and style to Greenacre – and is fast acquiring the same predatory habits.

Curran credits Greenacre for helping him understand the tricks of the striker’s trade but the older player insists: “I’m still learning myself.

“Craig and I are quite similar in the way we like to play and I am learning from some of the runs Craig likes to do.”

Greenacre added: “The younger players at this club all have a fantastic attitude. They are all willing to listen to advice. They all want to improve themselves.”

Rovers will be looking to strengthen their hold on second place in the League One table by extending an unbeaten away record at Cheltenham on Saturday.

They go into the weekend three points behind leaders Leyton Orient, although Greenacre points out that Leeds United would be sitting in pole position if they were not handicapped by a 15-point penalty.

Yorkshireman Greenacre, a Leeds fan, describes the performance of Dennis Wise’s team in reeling off six straight league wins since the start of the campaign as “unbelievable”.

Greenacre added: “From a Tranmere point of view we needed other teams to take points off Leeds while they were still in the red and no-one has been able to do that.

“They are doing things in a typical Leeds way, saying the world is against them and sticking together.

“That’s been the Leeds ethic for years. It’s good to see them doing so well – but that’s just me being a Yorkshireman and a Leeds fan.”