BURY..........................................2

TRANMERE ROVERS...............0

(Att: 4,481)

TRANMERE'S vulnerability to set pieces proved costly as they were beaten 2-0 by high-flying Bury at the JD Stadium.

Manager Rob Edwards vowed to turn things around for Rovers, who have gone six games without a win.

The first chance fell to Tranmere on three minutes when a low cross from the right was played in by Max Power and found Marc Laird whose effort was stopped by Bury goalkeeper Shwan Jalal.

Six minutes in and Power sent over another cross from the right. This time a the delivery went to the back post but Abdulai Baggie could only head wide of the target.

The teams went in all square at the break after a hard-fought 45 minutes.

The scoring was opened on 55 minutes by the home side. A corner kick from the right was only half-cleared and Kelvin Etuhu fired home from the edge of the penalty area with a low drive.

With 17 minutes remaining, Tranmere made a double substitution with Matt Gill and George Donnelly being replaced by Jason Koumas and Jake Kirby.

With three minutes left on the clock, Daniel Nardiello headed in at the near post from another corner to wrap up the win for the Shakers and propel them to the top of League Two.

By contrast, Rovers have not won a game since the end of August and find themselves just one place above the relegation zone.

There were two changes to the line-up which started last weekend at Carlisle. Kirby and Eliot Richards were moved to the substitutes bench, replaced by Marc Laird and Kayode Odejayi. Cole Stockton was out of the squad through injury.

There were some familiar faces in the Bury side with three former Rovers men in their squad. Jim McNulty and Ryan Lowe started for the Shakers while Joe Thompson was on the bench.

Tranmere manager Rob Edwards said: "The players have given everything, the only thing I'm critical about is our cutting edge.

"We didn't work their goalkeeper enough. Jason had a shot and brought a good save from him, but we weren't clinical enough in the box.

"Like the last four or five games, we've had as many chances as the opposition and we've somehow lost again.

"I'm the most frustrated man in this ground, I can guarantee that.

"We'll turn it around. We played a different way today and I enjoyed it for an hour but then the game went away from us."

The manager continued: "We're getting punished at set pieces and don't look like scoring at ours, but it's not from a lack of work on them.

"At the moment we're doing okay in the middle third, but at both ends we're struggling and it really is costing us.

"The fans were fantastic today. They're sticking with the team and showed a lot of passion."

Edwards revealed Stockton could miss the next fortnight: "Cole might be out for a couple of weeks with a sore pelvis, and Eliot Richards hasn't trained all week, he's had a sore hamstring."

He also confirmed Matthias Fanimo has returned to West Ham: "He went back. We weren't going to use him, it didn't really work out."

On the fans' reaction during Saturday's game, Edwards said: "I thought the fans were top class, really good. There is a small section of fans who don't like me, but I'm fine with that."

Rovers come up against Carlisle Utd again on Tuesday evening in a Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie at Prenton Park. They're back in league action on Saturday, when they'll host Plymouth Argyle.