Work needed as fluency was lacking – Moore

Oct 22 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

MANAGER Ronnie Moore admitted Tranmere have work to do to sharpen up the tactical system that failed to deliver a result at Swindon Town.

Rovers lost for the first time in six League games on the road as the performance level fell slightly below par and a 4-5-1 formation failed to click into place.

The five-man midfield worked a treat at Southend two weeks earlier but this time Moore had to concede: “We were not as fluent as we could have been.

“We have to do better than that with the 4-5-1 system – and we will. We will work on it and make sure we do it better. It’s a new system for us and we will tidy things up so we are more of an attacking force than we were today.”

Rovers created few chances in a tight game and were beaten by an 88th-minute strike from Swindon substitute Barry Corr.

Moore added: “We did not get Paul McLaren on the ball to pass it as much as we should. When the ball did go up to Gareth Taylor at the front, we did not get support to him quickly enough with people in and around the box.

“We were always hoping we were going to get something from a set play but we did not create enough in open play.”

Moore was disappointed that a determined defensive performance was ultimately undermined by the lapse that led to Corr’s late winner.

He said: “We defended well and we had to, got bodies behind the ball and Danny Coyne made a couple of good saves.

“I thought we had done enough to hold on to a point, so to get caught sleeping in the way we did for the goal was frustrating.

“It wasn’t a great ball that John Paul McGovern put into our box but we failed to deal with it. We were dreaming. Someone let him go.

“But you have to give credit to the opposition. Swindon are a good side and they made us do a lot of defending.”

The result dropped Tranmere from second to sixth place in the League One table. They remain within three points of leaders Leyton Orient however.

Moore added: “Swindon have moved to within a point of us and everything has tightened up – but it is not the end of the world. We are still right in there with everything to play for.”

Moore hopes to have a creative influence of Chris Shuker back in the side for Friday’s home game against Huddersfield, when a victory could lift Tranmere to the top of the table. The little winger was left out on Saturday to rest a torn thigh muscle that has hampered him for several weeks.

Moore said: “We missed Shukes and that’s no disrespect to Carl Tremarco and Chris Greenacre, who played in the wide positions.

“We knew we were not going to be able to open Swindon up with a bit of flair. Shukes gives us that but his injury needed a rest.”