MATTHEW Pennington's first goal for the club earned Rovers a 1-0 win over Crewe at Prenton Park.

Rovers took the lead around 25 minutes into the game.

Ash Taylor broke from defence and started a move that saw Jake Kennedy win a corner on the left.

From the set piece defender Pennington, who joined Rovers on-loan from Everton on January 1, rose at the back post to power a header into the roof of the net from Jason Koumas' cross.

There was a chance for a second soon after when Pennington combined with Jake Kirby on the right, but the latter's cut back for Lowe was cleared by Harry Davis.

Manager Ronnie Moore described the win - the club's first of 2014 - as "massive."

In his post-match interview, Moore said "We had the wind in the first-half and were the better team, and they had the wind in the second-half and were the better team.

"We defended well and got our bodies in the right place at the right time. It was a good all-round team performance, when we were asked to defend we did well.

"When we got the goal, we were hoping we could go on and get another. Late on when we've had three-v-one we should score but you can't have a go at them.

"It was a fantastic header. The quality from Koumas...all afternoon he got on it and kept us in possession.

"It was a great ball in and a great header from Matt. It was nice to see it go in the back of the net.

"Overall I thought we deserved it, I think we were the better team at the right times during the game."

The result catapulted Rovers out of the League One relegation zone into 17th position with 28 points.

Midfielder Steve Jennings felt Tranmere deserved to come away with all three points.

He said: "It was a must-win game.

"We'd had it drilled into us all week that it was do or die and that was the attitude we took.

"Thankfully, we got the win and overall I'd say we deserved it.

"It was simple tactics, come out of the traps firing and push them back".

Moore made two changes to the team that started at Peterborough with Evan Horwood coming in for the injured Liam Ridehalgh and Cassidy replacing James Rowe.

The manager said he expected to be able to select Cassidy on Tuesday night for the home game against Rotherham after the striker came off with a back injury.