Half-time switch pays dividends as Tranmere see off Barrow

After a wretched opening 45 minutes against strugglers Barrow, Keith Hill changed personnel and formation at half-time to great effect as his side kept their automatic promotion hopes alive.

With fellow promotion hopefuls Morecambe and Bolton facing off and play-off rivals Exeter and Newport meeting at St James Park, Tranmere knew that a win on Saturday would see them gain ground over at least two of the other promotion chasers.

With James Vaughan absent once more as his injury struggles continue, Hill opted to play Danny Lloyd in attack with the support of Kaiyne Woolery in a fluid attacking system supplemented by Kieron Morris and Liam Feeney.

Tranmere’s struggles without their top scorer have been well documented but this looked like a line up capable of getting past Barrow and setting up a rousing finale for the final two games of the season.

With Barrow themselves looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone, both teams seemed to start with nervous energy. The game was frenetic and Tranmere were playing as if they were a goal down with 10 minutes to go.

Everything was going through the middle of the pitch which made it very easy for Barrow to defend, with no focal point such as Vaughan to worry about. It didn’t take long for frustration to set in and as a collective, Rovers were making too many mistakes.

One of the earliest things that you’re taught playing football is to let the ball do the work. The hosts’ players seemed to abandon this principle in the first-half, giving their teammates far too much to do. Passes were either being fired into each other or played too far ahead, making one another bust a gut just to get on the ball.

Captain Jay Spearing was shouting ‘it’s not good enough’ and he was 100% right. It was not a performance that would inspire confidence going into the climax of the campaign.

A moment to sum it all up was when Paul Lewis had to leave the field after receiving treatment, leaving Tranmere a man short for a minute or two. Having won a throw, Calum McDonald sprinted after the ball to get the game going again quickly only to be roared at by experienced colleagues Joe Murphy and Peter Clarke.

‘Manage the game’ were the shouts and all composure had deserted Tranmere’s players.

Half-time brought some welcome respite for everybody in the ground and Lewis confessed post-match that the players ‘got a bit of a rocket up our backside at half-time’.

Hill decided he needed to do something for the second 45 minutes as the Tranmere manager brought on Otis Khan and David Nugent in place of Lloyd and Morris.

Those two could probably feel aggrieved as truthfully any of the outfield players could have found themselves replaced.

Tranmere went to a back three, shifting Lee O’Connor to centre back, allowing Khan and McDonald to push higher and offer the width that the match had been craving.

The changes certainly brought about a difference in tempo. Rovers were like a new team after the interval. The energy levels were such that it felt as if they’d had a three-day break rather than just 15 minutes.

Khan was buzzing up and down the right-hand side, getting up to support the attack as Barrow were quite unambitious, rendering defensive work to be on the backburner.

Nugent was also having an impact, working hard up front and proving a nuisance to the Barrow defence.

Most of the play was coming down the Tranmere right and some of the play was simply beautiful. Woolery, Khan and Feeney were linking up well and forcing Barrow onto the back foot.

Then came the only goal of the match. Again Khan and Feeney were excellent on the right and the on-loan Blackpool man produced a quality cross that was met by a brilliant glancing header from Nugent.

As far as dream substitutions go, that must have been right up there for Hill.

His side were brimming with confidence as if the goal lifted a huge weight off their shoulders. Nugent went close to doubling his tally with a wonderful curling effort but was unable to convert.

The energy levels were off the scale, with Woolery chasing down the goalkeeper towards the end of the game as if he’d just stepped on the field.

Attacks were being sustained by the positioning of the wing-backs as McDonald won the ball high and kept the pressure on Barrow, who couldn’t get back into the game.

The only downside for Rovers would have been not scoring a second to kill the game off, but it was three important points nevertheless that keeps the promotion dream going and maintains the play-off spot for Tranmere.

Hill has taken a lot of flak in recent weeks but he can point to his tactical changes at half-time as evidence that he is the man to take Rovers out of this division.

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