Tranmere Rovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, Manchester City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Attendance: 13.208

THINGS were looking up for Rovers on Saturday when a point against high-flying Manchester City lifted them off the foot of the Nationwide League Division One table.

Before the match, manager John Aldridge was concerned about the quality of Irish international Mark Kennedy on City's left-wing. However, the former Liverpool and Wimbledon player was closely marked by Steve Yates and failed to make much of an impression.

The match was decided by two penalties and City felt aggrieved that they were not awarded a third after the ball was handled in the area by Clint Hill.

Kevin Horlock scored the first for the visitors five minutes after half-time after young 'keeper Joe Murphy fouled Gareth Taylor. Eight minutes from the final whistle, though, Horlock brought down Wayne Allison and was shown the red card. Alan Mahon slotted home the equaliser and Rovers spent the rest of the match trying to make use of their one-man advantage.

Skipper Yates said after the game he was confident that Rovers would climb from their present position. "Everyone is beating everyone else in this league, so we should be OK," he said.

He also praised the contribution of new-boy Wayne Allison: "He is a very good outlet for us. If things are tight, we know we can always knock a ball up to him and he will hold it up for us. He has been scoring a few as well."

The point meant that Tranmere were second from bottom, ahead of Swindon Town on goal difference. There are, however, only six points separating the bottom 16 clubs in Nationwide League Division One.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.