The miracle of the funny little blue car

Cod Almighty | Match Report

by Sarah Barber

23 October 2024

Town lined up in a 5-3-2 formation, playing from right to left: Smith, Warren, Rodgers, Tharme, McJannet, Hume; Barrington, Khouri, Ainley, Obikwu, Rose. On the bench was Cass, McEachran, Gardner, Carson, SvanĒ·órsson, Wilson and Auton.

Another human/canine outing to the many venues in the North West at which Town rock up in the lower tiers of League football. Unaccustomed as I am to writing about Town victories, particularly away from home, and with a pretty poor record against Tranmere, particularly at Prenton Park, we must conclude that the reason for the streak of away wins has been travelling in a funny little blue car (so much easier to slot into gaps in on-street parking).

A goodly crowd for a Tuesday night (424) settled into the ground. All the talk was of Rihanna 'doing a Wrexham' (useful, given local rainfall levels). Mark Palios is on record saying he is keen to sell the club to a consortium, for which Rihanna provides the acceptable hanger on which to garner international awareness (a German film crew the Saturday before, apparently). They don't need to invest in the pitch, so green and smooth (and bouncy) that we had to check it really was turf, but some accessible toilets at the Cowshed end wouldn't go amiss; oh, and a clock visible from the away end – thanks RiRi.

First half: Needing a miracle
Town kicked off (attacking the Kop end) in the usual fashion: back to Smith who knew exactly where to aim his kick since 20 players were positioned to the Town right-hand side, quite close to the touchline. One of the most bizarre kick-off formations I've witnessed. Time to note that a) the ball was bouncing high, and b) Smith's normally noteworthy distribution was not so reliable tonight. Worryingly, there were early signs that this was not going to be Doug Tharme's best experience either.

The first half was deadly dull. It took Town 15 minutes to wake up at all, and while there were times they came forward (Obikwu put a header over the bar), most of the half consisted of soaking up pressure from what looked like a fast and skillful Tranmere side, especially the double-act Norris and Morris in central midfield and the ubiquitous Omari Patrick (officially) on the left wing. Having introduced the first little miracle-worker (the bouncy pitch), a second hint came from Tranmere goalkeeper, Luke McGee, who loves coming down the pitch, and during the first half scythed out Denver Hume to earn the first of Tranmere's six yellow cards. There was one minute of added time: 0-0 at half time.

Second half: Miracles do happen
Both teams were unchanged and, for the first 15 minutes of the second half, so was the play: Tranmere did; Town rarely did. Then the miracle started to reveal itself. Obikwu skied Hume's cross over the bar from six yards. Grumble, moan, head in hands in the Cowshed. Soon afterwards, Khouri powered down the same left wing. Rose's cross was deemed to have hit Norman's outstretched arm, but his subsequent penalty was saved low to McGee's right and bundled out. Grumbling, moaning, heads in hands times two. Back to Tranmere shots zinging around Smith’s goal.

But lo!, the miracle was revealed. A(nother) Tranmere attack fell apart and the ball came to Barrington, deep in his own half, who lofted towards our very own lanky goal-poacher. The fates collided first with the high-bouncing ball and then with McGee's reckless out-of-area play, as he failed to collect. We watched as Obikwu stroked a ball from a tight angle across the goalmouth, and assumed it was rolling past. But it didn't: it rolled in. Obikwu got a knock and was substituted by Gardner five minutes later.

Town absorbed relentless Tranmere pressure for the rest of the game, plus seven official and eight actual minutes of added time. The defence coped with bottles thrown on the pitch as the Kop went ballistic that the referee (excellent game, Mr Ben Toner) was failing to give decisions to the home side that were penalties (dives), fouls (slips) etc., most of which went into the book instead.

0-1 at full time. Town were lucky. Any number of Tranmere shots, several of which were cleared off the line, could/should have gone in. While Town also gave Cass and McEachran a run out, Tranmere made four substitutions, two of which removed their two most skillful (tired) players. There weren't outstanding Town performances, but there weren't any poor ones either. And they all count. This was Town's first win at Prenton Park since 1998. Delighted Town fans doughnutted behind the goal witnessed it, but only two know that the real lucky charm is the funny little blue car parked on a nearby street sporting 'History Makers' on the bumper.