Vaughan and Blackett-Taylor add renewed vigour as Tranmere cling on to playoff hopes

The return of James Vaughan to Tranmere’s starting eleven should give supporters a sense of hope despite Thursday’s narrow home defeat to Morecambe in the first leg of the League Two playoff semi-final.

His partner in attack on this occasion was Corey Blackett-Taylor as Ian Dawes was bold and brave with his team selection in the first game of his second spell as interim manager.

Dawes took charge of the crunch encounter after Tranmere parted company with Keith Hill following the end of the regular season. It was thought that had Hill remained in charge there was a possibility of negativity in the ground as the fans made their return. The relationship between Hill and the supporters had become untenable.

There was no such negativity on show however as 3,400 loyal followers braved the dreadful conditions to back Dawes and the ‘Super White Army’. In truth it could have been sub-zero temperatures and howling winds, there was no way the several thousand season ticket holders were missing this special moment.

The roar as the players entered the fray was deafening and the atmosphere seemed to rub off on the players as Tranmere started like a steam train.

Too often in recent games performances have been sluggish and lethargic. Blackett-Taylor epitomised the freshness and begun the match like a man reborn.

The former Aston Villa youngster took up a position on the inside left channel and set about attacking Morecambe full back Ryan Cooney. Blackett-Taylor was direct and drew an early foul that Morecambe were fortunate didn’t produce a yellow card.

The 23-year-old looked full of confidence and the pace on show was frightening. On one occasion the attacker spun a defender before knocking the ball in front of himself. For most players it would have been far too big of an ask to catch up with the ball but Blackett-Taylor showed searing speed to make up the ground and get a cross away.

The Midlands-born player was full of running and was giving Cooney a torrid time down the left. The Morecambe defence couldn’t live with him and it was just a question of could he supply the end product. He did win the corner which led to Peter Clarke powerfully heading the equaliser home.

However one moment seemed to highlight a turning point in the match. It was yet another tussle between Blackett-Taylor and Cooney except this time the Morecambe man showed his strength and came away with possession. This gave the defender a much-needed confidence boost as he got to grips with the game.

From that point Blackett-Taylor was largely ineffective, finding himself switching wings to try and influence play but to no avail. It was no surprise when a triple substitution was being made in the second half that he made way.

It was a very encouraging performance on the whole though and he could provide a route back into the tie during Sunday’s second leg.

The return of Vaughan also added a badly needed focal point to Tranmere’s attack. Rovers have struggled badly in the 32-year-olds absence with a knee injury and weren’t able to fill the sizeable void left.

Attacking pairs, a back three and Paul Lewis as a centre forward were all tried and largely failed as Rovers toiled without their top scorer. Just seeing his name on the teamsheet will have given everyone connected a massive lift.

Vaughan’s influence on the pitch cannot be overestimated. He was a constant threat in the box, never giving up on anything and going close with a decent header and an even better volley which Kyle Letheren saved.

Vaughan was a menace for the Morecambe defence to deal with and many fans were baying for a penalty when he went down claiming his shirt was pulled in the box. Dawes didn’t feel too hard done by with that call when speaking after the game.

The intelligence shown by the former Everton striker was highlighted when Blackett Taylor was calling for the ball to be passed into feet from midfield. Vaughan came short looking for a pass and when it was forthcoming, dummied the ball and bamboozled the defence as it made it’s way to his colleague in attack.

The 18-goal hitman was unlucky not to add to his tally with a brilliant header effort that required all of his neck muscles to reach the ball only to see it float narrowly over the bar.

Match fitness remains a bit of an issue but it was encouraging to see the centre-forward get 80 minutes under his belt. Dawes remarked afterwards that he would have liked to have kept him on but having mistimed a couple of tackles and having a yellow card to his name, replacing Vaughan was the obvious and sensible solution.

Dawes said that losing Vaughan to a red card  would be ‘the last thing they needed’.

Vaughan is vitally important to how Tranmere want to play and they’ll be hoping the days of finding ways to play without him are over.

Should the budding relationship develop a little bit further on Sunday, Vaughan and Blackett-Taylor may just fire Tranmere back to Wembley.

They’ll have to do it the hard way but as the old saying goes, nothing good was ever gotten easily.

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