Tranmere Rovers................. 0

Dover Athletic.......................1

A CONTROVERSIAL first-half Ricky Miller goal proved enough to give in-form Dover Athletic all three points at Prenton Park as Tranmere’s third consecutive home league defeat saw them slip to tenth in the National League.

The visitors’ Stefan Payne had the first effort of the match, spooning well wide from 30 yards before Miller came closer in the tenth minute, forcing a save out of home debutant Iain Turner.

Steve McNulty headed over in the 14th minute for Tranmere but it was momentary respite from a period of sustained and controlled Dover pressure.

On the half-hour mark, a Liam Ridehalgh corner found Lois Maynard but his header was hacked off the line by the Dover defence.

Tranmere had half-hearted handball appeals for a penalty dismissed on 35 minutes but four minutes before the break the visitors took the lead when Miller collected a ball over the top and appeared to control it with his arm before smashing it past Turner.

The officials received a volley of tongue-lashings when leaving the pitch at half time.

The goal might have been unfair on Rovers, but really the score line was not after Dover had dominated large periods of the first 45 minutes.

Returning centre forward Andy Mangan replaced Ridehalgh at half time, as Gary Brabin threw all four strikers at his disposal into the mix.

On 50 minutes Matt Hill flashed a dangerous low ball across the Dover six-yard box, which somehow evaded everybody before Tomlinson shot straight at Mitch Walker.

McNulty collected a yellow card shortly before the hour mark for pulling back an attacking Dover shirt before the former Luton Town captain was caught dallying on the ball in the penalty area by Payne, who’s shot was blocked by Martin Riley.

James Norwood found himself in space to run at the visitors defence but his early shot was well over.

Tranmere’s pressure did not relent and a low Ritchie Sutton drive forced Walker to tip the ball around the post to safety.

With 20 minutes to play Tranmere almost drew level when Mangan crashed the ball off the inside of the post.

McNulty saw a header blocked before a Taylor-Fletcher header was scrambled clear as Rovers attacked in waves.

Sutton found himself clean through in injury time but could only shank agonisingly wide as Dover held firm and headed 297 miles south with all three points.

Manager Gary Brabin said: “I’ve said to the lads, it’s not worth talking about (the handball) because I don’t want us as a team to be hiding behind that.

"Decisions are made good or bad and we need to be ruthless in both boxes. We weren’t.

“We’ve conceded a sloppy goal. I don’t think we got out of second gear in the first half if I’m honest.

“We’ve made a tactical change second half, we’ve gone out with all four strikers and I thought we played some good stuff, created some chances, a lot of changes.

"But I’m speaking about the other end of the pitch now. We need to be ruthless in that box and we’re not.

“It’s about us. I do see us getting better and we’re not panicking but at the same time I don’t want to be saying it’s early days because I’m disappointed with the manner in which we’re giving away goals and not being ruthless at the other end.

“It was a good opportunity for us today to be tucked in third place and we’d have been really happy with that. As it is we’re not. It’s something we need to start putting right soon.

“With the firepower we had out there, we thought it would only be a matter of time before the goal would come.”

Match Stats:

Tranmere Rovers: 0

Dover Athletic: 1, Miller 42

Half time: 0-1

Star man: Andy Mangan (Striker, Tranmere Rovers)

Attendance: 4,486

Entertainment: 3/5

Ref rating: Adrian Holmes (5/10)

Tranmere (4-4-2): Turner player rating 6; Sutton 6, Riley 6, McNulty 6, Hill 5; Tomlinson 5, Maynard 7, Jennings 6, Ridehalgh 6 (Mangan 46, 8); Taylor-Fletcher 7, Norwood 6.

Subs not used: Pilling, Jackson, Ihiekwe, Margetts

Dover (5-3-2): Walker player rating 7, Magri 6, Raggett 7, Orlu 7, Grimes 7, Thomas 6, Parkinson 7, Deverdics 7, Modeste 7 (Sterling 86, NA), Payne 7 (Murphy 77, 5), Miller 8 (Ajala 82, 6).

Subs not used: Ofori-Acheampong, Diallos