Elliott Nevitt singled out for special praise by Tranmere boss Micky Mellon

Posted Sunday, September 19, 2021 by PA

Tranmere manager Micky Mellon heaped praise on summer signing Elliott Nevitt after the forward plucked from non-league football sealed a 2-0 win against Salford.

Nevitt, who joined Rovers on a one-year deal having shone at Warrington Rylands, guided home a diving header from a Kieron Morris cross to score his first league goal for the club early in the second half.

It secured Tranmere a second win from their last three league outings, with Morris having put them ahead with a 13th-minute penalty after Josh Dacres-Cogley’s cross bounced up against the hand of Salford defender Liam Shephard.

“He’s (Nevitt) come into the group and come from a level where everything is new to him,” Mellon said.

“We knew first and foremost we’d have to find out – after we got him fit and after we got him into the shape that he’s in – what else we would have to work on in his development as a footballer in order to keep pushing him on and he’s shown really good signs of that today.

“He’s a real honest kid. He’ll keep running and running and running for you and it was pleasing to see all that hard work he’s putting in, getting into 18-yard boxes and getting in front of people.

“He got his rewards today but he’s going to have to keep going.

“The demands of this club do that to you.

“We won’t be allowed to go and celebrate over the top tonight.”

Salford manager Gary Bowyer felt the penalty against Shephard should not have been given and also questioned the sending-off of defender Ibou Touray, who saw red for a high-footed challenge on Callum McManaman when Tranmere were leading 1-0.

Jay Spearing’s red card for a late tackle on Matty Lund levelled things up just before half-time but that was no consolation for Bowyer.

“If that’s a penalty, I don’t think it gets given in the Premiership with the VAR when they have a look at it,” Bowyer said. “The lad’s hand is not in an unnatural position.

“It’s whipped across and it’s bounced awkwardly and hit his arm.

“He’s not put his arm up or anything like that and I’ve just seen that back. There is actually no contact with Ibou Touray on their player for the sending-off.”

Bowyer also believes Salford should have had a penalty for a foul on Lund.

“We then go down the other end and Matty Lund, who was the target, got wrestled down to the ground and we don’t get a penalty,” he added. “And I’ve seen that one back.

“I’m talking at an advantage, it’s not a bias. I’m talking at an advantage and that is a penalty more so than theirs.”