Tranmere approach Oldham clash needing help from elsewhere

Tranmere Rovers will go into Saturday’s clash with Oldham Athletic knowing that clinching a playoff place is no longer in their own hands.

Mickey Mellon’s side have been excellent at Prenton Park this season, amassing 48 points to leave them with the joint-best home record in the division.

Unfortunately for the Birkenhead side, the away form has been very poor, with Rovers sitting 17th in the table on their travels, having won only four times on the road this season.

Oldham will seem like the perfect visitors on Saturday however. The Latics became the first former Premier League side to be relegated to the National League last weekend after a defeat at home to Salford City. John Sheridan’s side will drop out of the Football League for the first time in their history and currently face an uncertain future.

The fans of Oldham stormed the pitch at Boundary Park once it became apparent that relegation would be forthcoming, in protest at the ownership of the club and the decisions that led to this predicament.

Tranmere did Oldham no favours themselves by losing to struggling Stevenage in also dealing their own promotion hopes a serious blow.

Rovers have stuttered in recent weeks, with only a victory against recently promoted Exeter City a rare highlight amidst a deluge of poor results.

The ‘Super White Army’ had a somewhat favourable fixture list to attack going into the final few weeks of the campaign but have let any perceived advantage dissipate while rivals such as Mansfield and Sutton United have largely maintained their form.

On a weekend that will see the World Snooker Championship decided, Rovers find themselves  needing snookers themselves with Sutton and Swindon Town both having nice fixtures this weekend to keep their own promotion aspirations alive.

Sutton will host Bradford City who are looking ahead to next season while Swindon host Barrow, who saw their survival confirmed last weekend and could take their foot off the gas this weekend with little left to play for.

With all that being said, Tranmere know they must win their own game and see what else happens across the country. Failure to do so will see Rovers condemned to League Two football for another campaign.

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