Antony Kay: Special run can end in us securing promotion

Feb 20 2008 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

ANTONY KAY knows enough about what it takes to win promotion from League One to make a reasoned assessment of Tranmere’s challenge this season.

The versatile defender helped Barnsley qualify for the play-offs in 2005-06 and scored a penalty shoot-out decider in a thrilling final victory over Swansea City at the Millennium Stadium. “It was a day that will live with me forever,” he said.

Kay offers a positive reading of Rovers’ prospects in a congested race this time around. He reckons Ronnie Moore’s team are equipped to complete to the job of securing a top six finish after recovering from a mid-season slump to regain a foothold in the play-off zone.

Kay said: “I think we are where we deserve to be now. We have a squad here that is good enough to get us promoted.

“If you look at the season so far I would say we have not yet done what we are capable of.

“We’ve dropped so many points we shouldn’t have. But you have to put those disappointing result out of your mind and be positive.”

Tranmere head for a testing visit to FA Cup giant-killers Bristol Rovers this weekend on the back of a seven-game unbeaten sequence.

Kay said: “It’s a good run and we could have won the two games out of the seven that we only drew. We have got ourselves into a play-off position and the job is to stay there – or perhaps even go one better.”

Kay parted company with his home-town club after one season in the Championship in order to join up with former Oakwell team-mate Chris Shuker at Prenton Park.

Saying goodbye to Barnsley after seven years as a professional – and many more in the junior and youth ranks – wasn’t as difficult as it could have been for the 25-year-old.

His time at Oakwell was marked by instability and change. He said: “Nearly every season since I got into the first team there I had to work with a new manager (Nigel Spackman, Steve Parkin, Glyn Hodges, Gudjon Thordarson, Paul Hart, Andy Ritchie and Simon Davey).

“So although it was my home-town club and I had always been there, I never really felt too settled. That does not sound ideal but it actually made me a better player, having to prove myself over and over again.”

This season Kay emerged as a scorer of important and spectacular goals for Rovers.

Marksmanship wasn’t his forte at Barnsley, save for the 2004-05 league campaign when he notched six strikes.

The powerfully-built centre back blasted home Tranmere’s 86th -minute winner against Luton in September, the 84th-minute decider in the 2-1 FA Cup victory at Chesterfield in November and the second, clinching goal in a 2-0 Boxing Day success against Carlisle. But Kay’s 87th-minute header at Millwall last month could yet prove to be the most significant goal of all.

It enabled Tranmere to snatch an unlikely victory from an afternoon under the cosh at the New Den – and set them off on the current unbeaten sequence.

Kay said: “I used to play in midfield so I have always enjoyed getting forward and scoring goals.

“I think I only got one goal in each of my last two seasons at Barnsley but managed to get in on a few set plays the Tranmere this season.

“A successful team has to get goals from all over the park and I’ll like to think I can reach half a dozen by the end of the season.

“We’ve had a few clean sheet recently and some defenders view those like scoring a goal.”