Micky Mellon ‘disappointed and surprised’ by Tranmere display in Newport loss

Posted Sunday, August 21, 2022 by PA

Tranmere manager Micky Mellon kept his players locked in the Rodney Parade dressing room for 50 minutes after they let a 1-0 lead slip to go down to a 2-1 defeat at Newport.

An Aaron Lewis own goal midway through the first half gave the visitors a fortunate lead as the home defender diverted Paul Lewis’ cross into his own net.

But Tranmere failed to build on that slice of luck and the hosts were level within six minutes when Bournemouth loanee Nathan Moriah-Welsh fired into the bottom corner after a solo run from West Ham loanee Thierry Nevers.

County striker Omar Bogle scored what turned out to be the winner seven minutes before the break with a confidently-dispatched penalty after James Clarke had been tripped in the box by Kyle Jameson.

Mellon said: “I’m really disappointed and surprised. We defended really poorly for the first goal after getting in front and you expect more.

“We just couldn’t really get anything going. It didn’t look anything like what we had started to grow. We lost our way a little bit and we have to have a good look at that and see why.

“It’s always a tough place to come here but we got a lot of the basics wrong and when the key moments came, we weren’t good enough.

“We have to look at that and see where we can find more consistency. We have to do better with and without the ball.

“It was a really disappointing performance and we’ve let down the supporters who travelled down here. They deserved better than what we gave them.”

Exiles boss James Rowberry was a relieved man as his side ended a run of seven straight home defeats stretching back to the end of last season and claimed a first three points of the new campaign to climb out of the bottom two.

“I’m delighted with what we’ve done,” said Rowberry. “For me, it’s been a long time coming. We’re getting closer to what we’re trying to do.

“It wasn’t always the perfect performance but it was so much better.

“I’m really proud of everyone, of how we came together and came through a little bit of adversity.

“It’s another comeback – we’ve done that twice already this season and we did it a lot last season, which shows the resilience of this group.”