Moore: Next four games will shape whole season

Mar 14 2008 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

MANAGER Ronnie Moore looks to be “Swansea effect” to lift Tranmere into what he sees as the make-or-break fortnight of the season.

Moore believes the next four games, three of which are at home, hold the key to whether Tranmere can sustain a promotion challenge to the end of the League One campaign.

He hopes the confidence gained from a merited 1-1 draw at the home of runaway leaders Swansea City in midweek can inspire his team into a winning streak when they need it most – starting with tomorrow’s game against Hartlepool at Prenton Park (kick-off 3pm)

A big haul of points in the second half of March from the games against Hartlepool (home), Port Vale (home), Bournemouth (away) and Swindon (home) should put Rovers in a strong position to claim a play-off spot, Moore argues. But if they can’t improve significantly on the single point they took from the first three games in March, they will drop out of contention, he concedes

Moore said: “These next four games should sort our season out. If we don’t pick up the points we want, then we are not going to be in it.

“Everyone knows what is at stake. There are a lot of teams in a similar situation to us, who can’t afford to lose games.”

Tranmere dropped to ninth place in the table in spite of snatching a last-gasp point at Swansea and go into the weekend two points adrift of the teams in the play-off zone.

Moore said: “Mathematically our fate isn’t in our own hands – but it is still down to what we do. We have to win the home games coming up. There isn’t much margin for error when you are playing catch-up because the two point deficit becomes five points if you make a slip.

“If we can take 10 points, or better still 12, from the next four games then I think we should be back in the play-off places. It’s about having the strength of mind and character to grab one. I have always believed we are as good as anyone in this division. We have nine games left to prove it.”

Tranmere’s resolve should have been stiffened, Moore argues, by the quality of their performance at the Liberty Stadium, where Chris Greencre’s injury-time equaliser prevented a third successive defeat.

“If the players don’t know what they are capable of now, then they never will,” said Moore. “They were magnificent at Swansea. In the second half they out-footballed the best footballing side in the division. It was a great credit to them.

“That should give them a lot of self belief. Now they need to bring it to the home games. They have to realise now that they can play football, they can play it from the back and don’t have to kick and rush and panic like they did at Oldham last Saturday.”

Moore added: “The season can turn on a performance like the one we gave Swansea. If we had lost the game after the way we played it would have been deflating for everyone. Scoring the equaliser in the 92nd minute meant the draw felt like a win.”

The selection options are opening up for Tranmere as players return from injury and suspension.

Steve Jennings, now clear of a three-match ban, is back in contention for the Hartlepool game. But there is no guarantee that Jennings will be able to reclaim a starting place in the line-up after central midfielders Paul McLaren, John Mullin and Adnan Ahmed earned Moore’s praise for their efforts in midweek.

The manager would also cut the central midfield spots available by reverting to a familiar 4-4-2 formation against Hartlepool after adopting a 4-3-3 system at Swansea.

Moore hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Chris Shuker returning to the substitutes bench tomorrow. The winger played the first game of his comeback from a two-and-a half-month lay-off with knee damage in the reserves this week.

Moore said: “Shukes is on the verge of being back. He needs to sharpen up and he will do that through games more than anything else. The Hartlepool game is probably too soon but I would not rule out some involvement for him.”