Peter Clarke is expected to start for Tranmere when they face Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park on Saturday.

The dominant centre-back has not played for relegation-threatened Rovers since appearing against Manchester United in the FA Cup Fourth Round on January 26 after suffering a calf injury, but he is now in line for a return to action.

Fullbacks Calum Woods and Kane Wilson have also overcome minor injuries and are in contention for a starting birth while striker Morgan Ferrier, who has been hampered by an on-going knee problem, is passed fit to play.

The need for Tranmere to get a positive result could not be more urgent. They are currently cut adrift in the League One relegation zone, seven points behind AFC Wimbledon albeit with two games in hand.

Wycombe were top when the sides last met in a league fixture back in November but inconsistent form has seen the Chairboys drop to third – a single point behind leaders Rotherham United and Coventry City.

Rovers ended a run of five successive defeats with a goalless draw at home to Bristol Rovers in their last league outing, but speaking ahead of Saturday’s game, manager Micky Mellon accepted that improvements needed to be made.

He said: “It maybe gives us something to build on. You try in every game to get a foothold from the work that you’re doing. Clean sheets and scoring first goals is what football is all about. But even within that performance we still would say that there still needs to be improvements. We’re working very hard to try and do that."

Mellon’s players were afforded a weekend off from competitive action when their match against Rochdale was postponed due to the weather last weekend and the Scot agreed that his team may have benefited from it.

He said: “We made the most of it, that’s for sure. We were able to do a lot more training this week. We haven’t been able to do an awful lot of training because we have been playing Saturday, Tuesday or Sunday, Wednesday for quite a while.

“Its given us and opportunity to get out on the grass and do bits of work with the boys and it feels like it at the moment that it’s been very worthwhile.”

A number of senior Tranmere players appeared midweek in the 1-0 Cheshire Senior Cup victory over Crewe, including Ollie Banks, Mark Ellis and Evan Gumbs, who are all returning from injury spells of varying degrees but Saturday’s clash with Wycombe will probably come too early for any of that trio to be involved.

Given his own team’s predicament, Mellon laughed when it was suggested that Wycombe’s form was patchy and is expecting a tough match against Gareth Ainsworth’s side.

He added: “They’re a good side. They absolutely have a way of playing that gets them results. Every game that you see they’re involved in nobody earns a victory against them unless you play really well.

“They’re at the right end of the table. They’re hard to stop if you’re not on top of your game, but we’ve proved in the past that we’re able to deal with that.

“We’re really looking forward to the game because we’ve had quite a lay-off now and we will be going down there looking to tray and pick up the points because it’s an important time of the season for us.”