Keith Hill calls on Tranmere to focus on own results amid promotion push

Posted Sunday, April 25, 2021 by PA

Tranmere have to look after their own results if they stand any chance of sneaking into the automatic promotion places, according to boss Keith Hill.

David Nugent’s second-half header gave Rovers a slender 1-0 win over Barrow at Prenton Park – their second win in as many games.

The result means Rovers have secured their play-off place, and are now four points behind third-placed Bolton with two games remaining.

Hill said: “We had to change things over the course of the game and it proved to be the right thing to do and we got a positive result.

“It was good build-up for the goal. We couldn’t play through them in the first half, it was like a basketball match and we needed to get the ball into higher areas of the pitch.

“We did that and it led to a goal, and I thought we were outstanding in the second half.

“We caused problems, and the header was a very good one. It was a goal worthy of Nuge’s (Nugent) status.

“We haven’t done an awful lot wrong in recent weeks. Defensively we’ve been doing well, and when you defend like that you only need to score one goal.

“We have got a week off to prepare now for the next game. The players will relax ahead of next week, and we will be looking for the three points and we need to just see where it takes us.”

Interim Barrow boss Rob Kelly insisted his players have got to quickly dust themselves down and go again.

He said: “It was disappointing, the players gave us everything against a good side who are up there in the top five or six for a reason.

“They’re battling for promotion but we concentrate on ourselves, we matched them for large parts but they played the best football and it won them the game in the end.

“Defensively we were disappointed for their goal, but it was a good finish from a player who has played at the highest level.

“Now we’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again in 72 hours, we’ve got a good opportunity again and we have to grab it.

“Maybe the situation got to a few of the today, that happens sometimes. We don’t tell them not to play but maybe it got to them.

“We need to add that bit of composure and we’ll work on that. We’ve got good footballers, and we got caught up in the game a bit today, it was that type of game, a tight League Two encounter but the best football won.

“But, it is in our own hands still and we can’t look at anyone else.”