LUTON TOWN......................1

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

(Att: 9,061)

ROVERS manager Micky Adams felt his side did not deserve to leave Kenilworth Road empty-handed after a hard-fought battle against Luton.

The in-form home side extended their unbeaten league run to 11 games and moved to the top of League Two after the narrow win.

Adams, who had not lost in five since joining the club, said: "We've come to a club who are second in the table and acquitted ourselves really well. If you're ever going to lose a game of football you do it in the style we have today where we've all had a go."

The manager made three changes to the side that defeated Bury 2-1 as Janoi Donacien, Marc Laird and Armand Gnanduillet came in for Danny Holmes, James Rowe and Abdulai Baggie.

Danny Johnson curled the first shot of the game wide of the left hand post from 25 yards on three minutes and the striker had the ball in the Luton net four minutes later after good work from Gnanduillet - but the assistant referee's flag was raised for offside.

Luke Guttridge had a first-half volley tipped over by Tranmere goalkeeper Peter Brezovan before Mark Cullen put two chances wide from good positions.

The Hatters took the lead in the second-half when substitute Ricky Miller curled past Brezovan into the top corner.

Mark Tyler made a late save from Kayode Odejayi's header to secure the points.

The defeat meant Tranmere are on a 12-game winless streak in the league, which stretches back to August, and sit 23rd in the table on 12 points.

Adams said: "Ultimately it's a defeat and we're disappointed with that but we can take a lot of positives out of today.

"We're disappointed with the goal, we think it could have been avoided, but we've created a lot of chances.

"Josh Thompson has done his hamstring and Janoi felt his hamstring as well, but on the plus side we've introduced a 17-year old boy, Evan Gumbs, who has made his debut and he can feel very pleased with his efforts.

"He'll remember his debut and it's things like that as a manager you look back on with pride. I gave him his debut and I hope he goes on to bigger and better things."

He remains convinced his squad has the talent to turns things around: "The message I've given the players after the game is that ultimately it's a defeat and if you go home, read the newspapers and look at the league table you'll believe we're a poor side, but we've seen enough from us recently that we're fast-improving.

"We're not looking at the bottom end of the table, we're looking at the top end, that's how confident I am in the group I've got."

Tranmere will play seventh-placed Southend Utd in a League Two fixture at Prenton Park next Saturday.

  • Rovers have been drawn at home to Walsall in the northern semi-finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
  • The semi-finals are due to be played in the week commencing December 8.