Keith Hill says that he is "100% happy" with the point Tranmere earned against Grimsby Town on Tuesday evening, as his players prepare for the visit of Exeter City to Prenton Park.

Promotion-chasing Rovers currently lie fourth in League Two, just three points outside the automatic promotion places and four points off the summit, but missed an opportunity to close the gap further on their rivals with a 0-0 draw against the Mariners.

But coming off the back of a Papa John's Trophy Final defeat to Sunderland at Wembley on Sunday, Hill saw it as a point gained, not two points dropped.

Speaking at his weekly pre-match press conference today, he said: "I'm not sure anyone wants to hear about how challenging the difficulties are.

"The travelling, psychological impact of preparing players, analysing, debriefing, preparing physically and mentally, playing the games - it just makes a massive overload.

"We've put ourselves in a great position because of what we have achieved. We will not be victims of our successes by not being prepared, mentally or physically, but there has to be a period of rest.

"Are we getting enough rest? No.

"Do we feel sorry for ourselves? No.

"Have we got a lot to play for? Yes.

"Are we happy with a point against Grimsby? 100%.

"If I'm Grimsby's manager, I smelt blood in that game. They should really have been taking us to task and saying "We're going to beat you", it was a unique opportunity.

"Grimsby's performance suited us."

Tranmere's bumper fixture list is not about to slow down any time soon as the season moves into the business end, and the Prenton Park boss acknowledges that he now has a balancing act to get the best out of his hard-working squad.

He said: "Kaiyne Woolery - it's the first time for a long long time that he's played 10 games in succession. We've got to mindful of the overload. Whether it's someone like David Nugent, who is trying to get up to speed, or Jay Spearing, or Clarkey (Peter Clarke).

"The loading these players are going through is unheard of in respect to previous seasons. We've got to be mindful of that. But we've also got to be aware that we want to pick what we consider our strongest team against any opponent."

With 12 games remaining, and Tranmere still to play all three sides above them, their destiny is in their own hands.

But Hill believes that his own experience tells him that it is foolish to look further down the line.

He said: "I don't really look beyond the end of my nose - and it's quite a big nose - but if I'm going to gauge and manage this team through the 12 games I can't look any further than Exeter. It's the next big game.

"I've fallen victim before of planning ahead of the next game and it proved disastrous. We're only planning for Exeter."

"Somebody said to me, "you only drew against Grimsby". It kills me, it really does. I think the players deserve more respect and the fact that the night before, Barrow beat Cheltenham. "It's a game of football. It's not Grimsby Town - bottom of the league. They're fighting.

"At Rochdale we were 12 points adrift with 16 games to go. We stayed up because we had promotion form in that last 16 games.

"We weren't at our best (against Grimsby) but it was a great point. We moved up a place, I'm sure we did?

"The reaction was like we were bottom of the league after that result? We're still second in the form table."

Rovers are still adapting to life without top goalscorer James Vaughan, who has undergone a knee operation.

Other players like Lee O'Connor and Otis Khan are back in contention for involvement tomorrow, but the former is more likely for the Tuesday night trip to Colchester.

But when pushed on whether talisman Vaughan would feature again this season, Hill jumped on the defensive.

"I've no idea to be honest," he said. "He's not available. We can't keep singing that same tune - if Vaughny had been on the pitch.

"I think that's quite condescending and disrespectful to the group of players that we've got.

"Vaughny will be ready and available when he is. He knows his own body and there's only him who can tell us when he's fit.

"We want him back tomorrow, but realistically, it's going to be four-to-six weeks.

"We've got 12 games to play and we're going to come up with a different way. It's not going to happen overnight."

The Rovers boss concluded his press conference by sharing his views on what he sees as over-reactions when result don't always go their own way.

"I don't understand constant emotional reactions to a result. All I want on Saturday against Exeter is a performance, it's as simple as that.

"This club is in a great position. We've got everything to play for.

"I don't want to be some sort of Messiah, I just want to be Keith Hill. My mother loves me whether I'm winning or losing or drawing.

"If people don't want me, I can move on.

"This group of players are really genuine and need to be supported and Tuesday night's draw represented a great point and not a good performance."

Tranmere Rovers v Exeter City kicks off a 3pm on Saturday, March 20. Follow the action with the Globe's live match blog from 2.30pm.