THE precise fixture in question eludes me, but what happened in the pressroom was hardly forgettable.

After one of Tranmere's nine home league defeats last season, as always, Gary Brabin came in to face the media and took the time to answer questions on the latest disappointment.

As a direct consequence of Rovers dropping out of the Football League, the expectation thrown on the manager's shoulders could hardly have been greater.

Radio broadcasters and written press journalists took it in turn to carefully position questions to Brabin that asked him to explain away the failure to win and ascertain whether he was feeling the pressure.

As ever, he took the time to answer every question put to him, with the hope of better next week.

But once the 'interrogation' had finished, a schoolboy, who was part of Tranmere's Youth Media team initiative, took his opportunity to deliver the killer question.

Without a moment’s hesitation he enquired: "Do you think you'll get the sack?"

And there it was.

A nine-year-old had ruthlessly delivered the question that must have lingered in Gary's mind every time his Tranmere team failed to get the result that their prestige demanded.

It is impossible to imagine any position baring greater expectation in non-league football than his, for the 16 months that he held the reins at Prenton Park.

That pressure was only exasperated when Brabin failed to get Tranmere into the playoffs last season.

They missed out by a single place with home defeats in the run-in to Welling United and Wrexham akin to pressing the self-destruct button.

To make matters worse, Cheltenham Town – who had been relegated to the National League at the same time as Rovers – were crowned champions and returned to the Football League at the first time of asking.

Despite some quarters calling for his removal, chairman Mark Palios kept his faith in Brabin and allowed him to recruit greater firepower during the summer.

Andy Cook from Barrow, Connor Jennings from Wrexham and Chorley's Darren Stephenson all arrived, bringing with them a combined goal tally of 60 from the previous campaign.

Palios' trust appeared to have been rewarded last month, as Tranmere started the season with six wins in their first seven matches.

Brabin even scooped the National League’s Manager of the Month award as for the first time in a considerable period; Rovers sat at the top of a league table.

It's true that the league table doesn't lie, but what it wasn't telling was the bigger picture that only regular supporters of the club could see.

Tranmere had kept winning in August, but by the skin of their teeth.

They earned a good victory over promotion rivals Eastleigh with a James Norwood goal deep in stoppage time.

Odd-goal victories were achieved over Boreham Wood, Maidstone and a struggling Guiseley, but were the minimum anyone had expected anyway.

Sections of supporters still had major concerns with Tranmere's style of play and with it, Brabin’s ability to sustain a title charge.

At the turn of the month, they lost at Aldershot, which triggered a sequence of four consecutive games without a win, gained only one point at York City in the process.

With attendances at Prenton Park not quite living up to the figures of last season, the importance of Tranmere gaining promotion this term simply couldn't be underestimated.

Doubts over the prospects of that happening under Brabin were lingering.

But when Sutton United inflicted a miserable defeat on Rovers in front of the live BT Sport cameras on Saturday lunchtime, the loyal travelling support called for his head.

Indeed, for the final stages of what was a dire Tranmere performance devoid of any cohesion, the beleaguered boss was forced to endure a mob of disgruntled fans chanting: "We want Brabin out," just yards from his dugout.

Such scenes are not sustainable and regrettably his removal was inevitable.

The fans may have felt that Brabin had let them down, but there can be no doubt that the players let Brabin down at Sutton.

His failure to get the best out of what looks like a decent squad is probably what cost him his job, coupled with the expectation of a club still wondering how on earth it fell from League Cup finalists to defeat at Sutton United.

Whoever takes up the Prenton Park hot seat next must have the steel to deliver Tranmere's mandate.

There are tougher jobs in football but few with a smaller margin for error, as Gary Brabin discovered this week.