Rovers boss Ronnie rages at his team's 'mentally weak' performance (From Wirral Globe)

Rovers boss Ronnie rages at his team's 'mentally weak' performance

9:09am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News

WALSALL.............................2

TRANMERE ROVERS........0

ROVERS manager Ronnie Moore was bitterly disappointed in his side’s performance as they lost 2-0 at Walsall.

Speaking on the BBC, he described it as "a powder-puff performance".

The result saw Tranmere drop to fifth place in the League One table, having lead the pack for much of the season.

Moore told Tranmere Player: "It’s not good enough, simple as that.

"We were mentally weak and everything that could go wrong went wrong. There was no guts, no determination, no sharpness.

"Do they think we’re all right, that we’re safe?

"No, we’re not there, we’re a million miles away.

"We had a chance to put a lot of space between us and Walsall and all we’ve done is claw everyone back to us."

There was one change to the team that started against Oldham with Mamady Sidibe returning from injury to take the place of Paul Corry.

Max Power reverted to the centre of midfield with Michael O'Halloran dropping into right midfield.

Rovers created the first chance of the game in the second minute with Liam Palmer cutting past James Chambers before bringing a save out of Aaron McCarey at his near post.

The first half ended goalless but soon after the restart, the home side took the lead. Brandy raced past challenges from Goodison and Taylor before being brought down by Holmes inside the area.

Referee Graham Salisbury pointed straight to the penalty spot and Will Grigg shot into the bottom right corner past the outstretched arm of Fon Williams to put Walsall 1-0 up.

Craig Westcarr brought a save out of Fon Williams from outside the area on 53 minutes, with the Rovers keeper gathering at the second attempt, but the striker's next effort doubled Walsall's advantage.

Mooore continued: "I can only apoogise to our spectators. They’ve been working all day, they’ve come and spent their money, the least they expect is you to put a shift in for them. 

"So I apologise for that. It’s my team, I pick the team and it’s totally unacceptable.

"We’d been second best from start to finish. I thought the penalty was harsh and once that went in we saw one or two of our heads go down which I don’t like. I’ve said it’s a good job we’re not in a relegation battle because we’d go down playing like that. 

The result left Rovers on 63 points, five behind league leaders Doncaster.