TRANMERE Rovers' blue and white army, many of whom did not return home until the early hours of Monday morning because of huge traffic jams in and around London, re-grouped in smaller fashion to make sure the Prenton Park cup heroes received a rousing homecoming on Monday afternoon.

Several thousand fans gathered at the foot of Birkenhead Town Hall, Hamilton Square, to give a roaring welcome to the team that is, without doubt, the Pride of Wirral - and you'd have thought Rovers had brought back the Worthington Cup!

Despite their "songs of praise" in Wembley Cathedral, they were still in fine voice to greet the players as they came out onto the Town Hall balcony to salute the large gathering. A sea of blue and white applauded each player as he stepped up and the players signalled that the support had done them proud.

Rovers' chairman Lorraine Rogers summed up what Tranmere had achieved and said: "I've been told that yesterday's match was seen by 80 million people around the world - if they don't know where the Wirral is now, they never will!"

The crowd roared after that just in case the world had not heard them the first time.

Manager John Aldridge could not believe the support the team received from the fans on Sunday. He said: "They (Leicester) apparently had 5,000 more than us at the ground - well, you'd never have thought so!"

Even in defeat the Tranmere faithful stayed after the final whistle to applaud the courage and commitment of the players.

Aldridge could not praise the fans enough and said: "They were truly magnificent. That was a great reception as well today, so a big thank you from all of us."

On Sunday, Tranmere surprised a lot of people and proved they have more to offer than just the long ball and Dave Callinor's intergalactic throw.

"We've gained a lot of friends through the way we battled yesterday. OK, we never got the right result, but we never let anybody down," said Mr Aldridge. "Both ourselves and Leicester showed a few people what it's all about and it was a good cup tie. It was very close and end-to-end stuff in the second-half. On the whole, everyone enjoyed it."

Mr Aldridge had not had time to view the tape of the sending off of Clint Hill so was unable to comment. But he is disappointed that Kelly's goal celebrations will lead to a report to the FA. "I thought the referees could have done better, but they make mistakes," said Mr Aldridge.

Even over the past emotional days, Lorraine Rogers knows what has to be done to please the bank manager. She said: "I keep saying again and again - it's so boring - but the most important thing to the club is the gates for League games. I'll be looking to see how much support we get for this Saturday's visit of Blackburn Rovers. That is where the real difference in our finances will come when we get to average gates of 8,000-10,000."

Having seen the support given by the fans in the past few weeks, she knows this is possible.

"So many people said that a lot of the interest was just some people jumping on the band waggon and didn't really care about Tranmere Rovers. This shows me they clearly do care and very passionately," she said.

And next season? "We would love to do it all again," said Mr Aldridge.

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