Moore’s admiration for hard working players

Feb 25 2008 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

TRANMERE manager Ronnie Moore saluted his players for “running their socks off” in the 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers.

Tranmere extended their unbeaten run to eight games in spite of having midfielder Steve Jennings sent off just before the interval.

Moore said: “I can’t feel disappointed, even though we took the lead then lost it. I have nothing but praise for the way our players dug in. It is hard work when you’re down to 10 men and everyone worked their socks off.

“They gave everything. I know how tired they were because when I said in the dressing room afterwards: let’s get going and away, no-one moved. I know they used up a lot of energy out there.”

Jennings was given a straight red for a badly timed tackle on Bristol midfielder Chris Lines just before half-time.

Moore reckoned the decision may have been “harsh” but has no intention of lodging an appeal. He said: “I asked the referee to have another look at the incident and he said he’d already seen it. He must have looked at the DVD at half-time. So if he is convinced it is a sending offence, it’s not worth me having a go trying to change his mind. We will not be appealing because we won’t have a prayer.”

Last month Tranmere were stunned when an appeal against a sending off of skipper Ian Goodison at Crewe resulted in the FA increasing the suspension from three games to four.

Jennings’ dismissal caused Tranmere to reshuffle into a 4-4-1 formation in the second half. The 10 men snatched the lead when defender Antony Kay headed in a Paul McLaren free-kick on 74 minutes only for Craig Disley to nod home Bristol’s equaliser on 81 minutes.

Moore added: “We kept our discipline with the two banks of four players in the second half. For Chris Greenacre to do the midfield job he did in the second half was brilliant.

“We limited Bristol Rovers to very few chances, although we did not have a stack of them either. We can’t blame the goal we conceded and being down to 10 men. Bristol scored because we did not pick up in the box.”

Moore admitted Tranmere had been a little less composed in the first half when Jennison Myrie-Williams, McLaren and Kay were booked.

He said: “We lost a bit of discipline just before half-time. There were one or two players who were a little bit lucky to get yellows instead of reds. We’ve got to learn from that. We cannot be undisciplined.

“We’ve lost the Jennings for three games but it does not leave us short because John Mullin had his opportunity to come into the side.”

The result was enough to keep Tranmere in the play-off zone, although they dropped one place to sixth. Moore added: “I think it would have been an interesting game if we kept 11 versus 11 when we were kicking down the hill in the second half.”