Tranmere Rovers came out 2-1 winners against League Two leaders Mansfield Town on Tuesday night at Prenton Park.

It was the visitors who had the first chance of the game following a fairly slow start from both sides, with Mansfield forward Will Swan seeing his free header float over the bar from six yards out.

However, it was the home side who would open the scoring in the 11th minute. Kieron Morris cleverly flicked the ball into the path of Regan Hendry who fired a lovely outside-of-the-boot shot down into the far corner from the left edge of the box, beating Christy Pym in the Mansfield goal, making it two goals in two games for the Scotsman.

Rovers went in search of a second and Pym was called into action again after 25 minutes, turning Brad Walker’s powerful drive from a free-kick over for a corner.

Tranmere had another great chance to double their lead a couple of minutes later after the ball fell kindly for Morris in the Mansfield box but the winger shot narrowly wide.

Mansfield started to create some chances of their own as the half went on and nearly levelled the score after 33 minutes. A nice move saw Nicholls slide in to meet a low cross however, the referee awarded a free kick to the hosts for handball.

The Stags started to mount some pressure on the hosts and reaped their rewards through an equaliser on 39 minutes. Tranmere were caught out by a long ball over the top by Louis Reed and Will Swan latched on and slotted past Luke McGee, with a tidy finish into the far corner levelling the scores. This saw Swan’s tally rise to eight league goals this season.

Half Time Score: Tranmere Rovers 1 – 1 Mansfield Town

Tranmere started the second half well and a clever bit of play between Rob Apter, Lee O’Connor and Brad Walker saw the latter’s low cross into the box evade the Rovers frontmen and go out for a throw-in.

As the game went on, Tranmere’s star man Rob Apter started to look more dangerous and after missing a couple of chances he restored Rovers’ lead after 56 minutes. The Blackpool loanee drove at the Stags’ defence before firing a low shot past Pym from outside the box, scoring a carbon copy of his goal in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

Mansfield went in search of an equaliser and almost found one through substitute Davis Keillor-Dunn who was denied by Luke McGee after 62 minutes.

Swan then had a brilliant chance to equalise and get a brace after 71 minutes, but dragged his low shot wide of the post.

The league leaders came again and worked the ball well to Quinn who saw his effort saved again by McGee.

Tranmere would hold on to claim a well-deserved three points against a Mansfield side who were below par by the standards they have set this season. Nigel Adkins’ side will look to make it back-to-back wins against fierce rivals Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground on Saturday. Despite the loss, Mansfield remain top of the League table and Nigel Clough’s side will look to get back to winning ways and regain momentum in the title race in their next game away against Bradford City.

Full Time Score: Tranmere Rovers 2 – 1 Mansfield Town

Man of the Match: While there is a case for many Tranmere players to be named as the man of the match, I feel that Connor Wood is deserving of the reward for this game. Putting in arguably his best performance in a white shirt, Wood worked exceptionally hard and was defensively brilliant while also offering a lot in attack down the left-hand side and so just edges it in a game where the entire team played well. Honourable mentions go to Rob Apter, Connor Jennings, Regan Hendry and Jordan Turnbull who all performed brilliantly. Despite a lacklustre Mansfield performance, Will Swan looked a threat throughout and deserves recognition for his well-taken goal as well as Keillor-Dunn who looked dangerous off the bench.

Lineups:

Tranmere Rovers- Luke McGee, Lee O’Connor, Joe Yarney, Jordan Turnbull, Connor Wood, Rob Apter (Dan Pike, 90 +3), Regan Hendry, Brad Walker, Kieron Morris (Luke Norris, 82), Harvey Saunders (Kristian Dennis, 82), Connor Jennings (C)

Unused subs: Joe Murphy, Jean Belehouan, Dan Pike, Josh Hawkes, Reece McAlear

Mansfield Town: Christy Pym, George Williams (Jordan Bowery, 62), Aden Flint (C), Lewis Brunt, Baily Cargill (Stephen McLaughlin, 82), Louis Reed, Aaron Lewis (Davis Keillor-Dunn, 62), George Maris (Hiram Boateng, 55), Tom Nicholls (Stephen Quinn, 82), Lucas Akins, Will Swan

Unused subs: Scott Flinders, James Gale