- Founded: 1884
- Nicknames: Rovers
- Honours: Division 3 (N) (1937/38), Welsh Cup (1935), Leyland DAF Cup (1990)
Formed in 1884 as Belmont, they adopted the present title a year later and joined the West Lancashire League ahead of the 1889/90 season. The club almost folded a year later when the players left en bloc to join a rival club. Tranmere survived the crisis and went from strength to strength. They joined the Football League in 1921.
Tranmere is a suburban village outside the Wirral town of Birkenhead, on the south bank of the River Mersey. Birkenhead’s dock system is part of the famous Port of Liverpool with regular ferries to Dublin, Ireland. Local points of interest around the Wirral include Port Sunlight, a village built by the Lever Brother’s to house workers at the Soap factory, and Birkenhead Park which was the countries first publicly funded civic park.
The majority of Tranmere’s successes came in the 1930’s. In 1935, Rovers won the Welsh FA Cup and three years later celebrated their only league title, edging Doncaster to the title by 2 points. Rovers were helped in abundance by their free scoring striker Bunny Bell, who a season later scored nine (9) goals in a 13-4 victory over Oldham Athletic.
The club have usually played in Tiers 3 and 4 but throughout the nineties Tranmere were regulars in Division 1 (now the Championship). John King had guided them to promotion in 1992 and Liverpool legend John Aldridge took the reins in ’96. Aldridge took Rovers to the last League Cup final played at the old Wembley, but they couldn’t win the three handled cup being beaten by Leicester.
After a slight slide which saw them briefly play in the National League and back to League One, Tranmere were relegated back to the fourth-tier two season.
Northampton 3 Stevenage 0 – League Two – Sixfields Stadium – 19.10.21
Northampton registered back-to-back League Two home wins with a routine victory over lowly Stevenage.
Kion Etete and Sam Hoskins struck in the first half, before Fraser Horsfall made the game safe in the second as the home side moved into the play-off positions.
After a quiet opening 33 minutes, Northampton broke the deadlock when Mitch Pinnock sent Etete racing away on goal and his low shot squirmed through the fingers of visiting goalkeeper Joseph Anang.
Lifted by the goal, the Cobblers went in search of another and got it late in the first half through Hoskins, who was on hand to poke in the rebound after Pinnock had robbed Luther James-Wildin and stung the palms of Anang.
Northampton remained the dominant force after half-time and Horsfall headed in a third on 63 minutes, getting up superbly to convert Pinnock’s corner and end the game as a contest
Harrogate Town 2 Tranmere Rovers 2 – League Two – The EnviroVent Stadium- 19.10.21
Harrogate extended their unbeaten home run to 10 games and kept fellow high-fliers Tranmere below them in the League Two table following an entertaining 2-2 draw.
The visitors led through a Jay Spearing penalty before a Jack Muldoon spot-kick and Luke Armstrong’s eighth goal of the season put the Sulphurites in the ascendancy, only for Kieron Morris to secure a share of the spoils.
Harrogate captain Josh Falkingham cleared an early Sam Foley chance off the line, but Tranmere went ahead just past the half-hour mark when Jack Diamond tripped Josh Dacres-Cogley, and Spearing found Mark Oxley’s bottom-right corner.
The Sulphurites levelled in the 40th minute after Will Smith had his shirt tugged by Tom Davies, and Muldoon beat Tranmere goalkeeper Ross Doohan.
Early in the second half, Alex Pattison forced a parry from Doohan and from the loose ball George Thomson set up Armstrong, who headed in from six yards.
But Rovers were back on terms within four minutes as home defender Warren Burrell turned a Josh Hawkes cross against Oxley’s right-hand post and Morris pounced from eight yards.
Callum McManaman went closest to winning the game for the visitors late on when he sidefooted against the bar.
Tranmere 1 Northampton 2 – PRENTON PARK – 05.02.19
Out-of-form Tranmere suffered a third consecutive defeat as they were beaten 2-1 by Northampton at Prenton Park.
The Cobblers led after less than two minutes thanks to Sam Hoskins’ clinical strike, but they were pegged back midway through the second half when James Norwood netted his 19th league goal of the season.
But Hoskins struck again deep in first-half injury time and Northampton held firm after the break, meaning Rovers missed the opportunity to gain ground on the League Two play-off pack.
It was the visitors who took the lead early on when Hoskins outpaced Tranmere’s defence before clinically stroking the ball beyond Scott Davies.
Rovers rode their luck in defence on a couple of occasions but pulled level when Connor Jennings fed Jake Caprice down the right wing and his fierce low cross was expertly turned in by Norwood.
It looked like Tranmere would kick on but Northampton had other ideas and when Hoskins speculatively looped the ball over Davies in first-half injury time it proved to be the winner.
| Played | Won | Draw | Lost | F | A |
| 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Biggest Win | |
| Biggest Loss | |
| First-Ever Game |
Played for both
Here’s an in-depth look at we look at Paul Lewis playing profile.
Tom Nield will be the man in charge when Rovers host Northampton Town at the Prenton Park on Saturday.
Nield was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2017 but had his 2019/20 campaign cut short when his other role as an NHS nurse saw him called up to the front line when it came to battling COVID-19.
His last Cobblers game was a 0-0 draw with Doncaster Rovers in March 2013 were hw sowed 5 yellow cards.
He will be assisted by Richard Wigglesworth and Danny Gratton and the Fourth Official will be Matthew Smith.
| 1 | Tranmere lost their last home league game against Northampton in February 2019, but only once have they lost consecutively at home against the Cobblers (April 1986). |
| 2 | Northampton have won two of their last three league games against Tranmere (D1), as many as they had in their last 14 against Rovers. |
| 3 | Tranmere conceded twice against Harrogate Town last time out, having been on a run of 13 league games without conceding more than once prior to that. |
| 4 | Northampton are looking to win three consecutive league games for the first time since January 2020. |
FA Cup Round One will see Cambridge United visit Sixfields.
Happy Birthday Sixfields!
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2021/22 Fixures
