Tranmere look to make promotion dream a reality

Tranmere welcome Crawley Town to Prenton Park this weekend hoping for a fourth consecutive win and aiming to potentially break into the automatic promotion places.

Spring time football has the tendency to bring big matches along almost as if they’re on a conveyor belt and with the congested nature of the League Two table, you would be forgiven if you described every fixture these days as huge and must win.

Therefore Saturday should present Keith Hill with an opportunity rather than being thought of as do or die. Bradford and Bolton are the new kids on the promotion block and face each other this weekend while other playoff hopefuls Morecambe play host to Carlisle. This offers Rovers the chance to gain points on potentially four close rivals with a win.

Both Bradford and Bolton have crept up the table in recent weeks to add to what was already a crowded field. Crawley themselves might feel that they’re on the very edge of that play-off picture but it would take a remarkable run of form. The Red Devils have been inconsistent in the new year since Max Watters departed for Cardiff and haven’t registered consecutive wins since January 2nd.

John Yems’ side will have to do without Sam Matthews who joins Reece Grego-Cox, Henry Burnett, Tom Dallison and Tony Craig on the sidelines. A win on Saturday could see them jump into the top half and would also complete a league double over Rovers.

Tranmere fans won’t have fond memories of that previous encounter which was a 4-0 defeat at the People’s Pension Stadium. That was one of the final straws in the Mike Jackson era before Keith Hill came in and turned Rovers’ fortunes around.

Otis Khan remains absent through injury while James Vaughan is being assessed after missing the midweek victory over Newport. Such is the depth of the squad at present, David Nugent would expect to lead the line in Vaughan’s absence.

Having beaten promotion challenging Carlisle and the aforementioned Newport recently, Saturday is a game that Rovers will be expecting to win to cement the playoff position and attack the top three. Hill is an experienced manager though and will be taking nothing for granted.

Saturday also marks the last home game before next weekend’s EFL Trophy final at Wembley against Sunderland. In normal circumstances, Prenton Park would be buzzing with anticipation and the fans would be looking to inspire the players and send them off on a high.

The players can still do so on Saturday but iFollow will have to do for the supporters in what could be a double dose of glory for the Birkenhead faithful.

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