TRANMERE ROVERS................2

SHREWSBURY TOWN..............1

(Att: 5,987) 

TRANMERE Rovers recorded their first win in four games as they beat promotion-chasing Shrewsbury to move three points clear of the relegation zone.

First half goals by Rory Donnelly and Danny Holmes gave Rovers a 2-0 lead at the break before Connor Goldson pulled one back for the visitors but despite late pressure from the away side, Rovers held on to the victory.

Donnelly gave Rovers the lead midway through the first half when he found the net from Marc Laird's pass.

The hosts doubled the lead just three minutes later when Holmes fired in from just outside the box.

Goldson pulled a goal back when he slotted Bobby Grant's corner but Rovers held on to win.

The game was delayed in the second half while Shrewsbury's Mickey Demetriou received lengthy treatment following a collision with Kayode Odejayi.

And in the 11th minute of injury time James Collins went close to making it 2-2 when he hit the crossbar.

Shrewsbury dropped to second place in the table and are three points behind Burton Albion, who won at Dagenham. Rovers moved to 20th, ahead of Carlisle and York. Cheltenham and Hartlepool remain in the drop zone.

Tranmere manager Micky Adams named two changes from last weekend's game against York City with Josh Thompson and Marc Laird coming in for Harrison McGahey and Iain Hume who were both on the bench.

Shrewsbury named former Tranmere loan player Jermaine Grandison in their starting line-up with another Rovers connection Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro named among the substitutes.

Adams said his players reacted the way he wanted after demanding an improvement on last week's performance at York.

He said: "It was a fantastic response. I understood the criticism, I think it was worth it last week. There was no denying we were very poor and we let a lot of people down. We had to accept it and move on.

"But what a response from a group of players. We worked ever so hard in training and had a game plan and stuck to it and have come on the right side of a win.

"I think we surprised them a little bit because we really did get tight to them. When we hustled we worked together as a group.

"We worked on that in training, if we could get the ball back high up the pitch that would be best for us and you've seen two examples of that.

"You can't get too high or low when you get results, as I said last week. We've got three points on board that we've worked hard for, now we get back to it again on Monday and prepare for a game down at Portsmouth."

He continued: "It means an awful lot to a lot of the players here. The message after last week was that we're fighting for all our careers here.

"It's not only about the footballers who are under contract, we're talking about everybody at this football club. We had to have a response today.

"It doesn't matter who you're playing against, there's 15 cup finals left for us. If we believe we're the real thing then what happened against York happens to us.

"I believe other results have gone for us but it's not about them, it's about us adopting the right attitude and approach every single day of the week.

"You get your rewards if you work hard enough."

Rovers travel to face Portsmouth on Tuesday. Kick-off: 7.45pm.