IF YOU’D have offered us four points from the next two games at this point last week, we’d have doubtless taken them.
As disappointing as it was not to get the breakthrough against Leyton Orient, the win at Colchester was a terrific result and has thrown us right into the thick of the play-off race.
Perhaps most the most satisfying thing to take from those two fixtures was the fact that the back four came through with flying colours on both occasions – without Ian Goodison. As important as the veteran Jamaican defender is to Tranmere, it was simply unacceptable to continue to blame his absence for the inability to defend.
The back four of Shotton, Taylor, Chorley and Kay are good enough and wise enough to cope, and now they are finally showing it.
If they continue to keep things tight at the back and the team are picking up points then it should be a fight for Goodison to get back in, especially with Gareth Edds now coming good in midfield meaning Antony Kay’s absence from the middle is not felt as much as it may have been.
Of course with the win on Tuesday night will come added expectation on tomorrow’s game at Southend. Another long trip and another tough match, yet three points again would put us in a fantastic position going into a run of three consecutive home games.
The play-off race looks like being as fierce and wide-open as ever with most teams in the top half of the division within touching distance of the top six.
Indeed, everyone down to eleventh place Colchester United will probably fancy their chances of gate-crashing the promotion party, a fact that again highlights the importance of Tuesday night’s victory.
Whilst I still worry we don’t have enough firepower available upfront at the current time to really worry the kinds of teams we will be coming up against in the next week or two, it is encouraging that with every week that passes by with us still in contention, the likes of Greenacre and Curran near fitness. If we can get those lads fully firing in time for the final months of the campaign, we could yet enjoy an extended season.
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