Nigel Adkins thrilled to see Tranmere’s hard work pay off

Tranmere boss Nigel Adkins could hardly contain his delight as he saw his side move out of the League Two relegation places with a comfortable 3-0 win over Forest Green Rovers at Prenton Park.

Adkins, who was named permanent Rovers boss in midweek, saw his side take the lead after just eight minutes when the unfortunate Tyrese Omotoye put through his own net from a Tranmere corner.

The home side doubled their lead just after the break when Kristian Dennis fired the ball home from the edge of the area.

The visitors’ task was made all the more difficult when Dom Bernard received a second yellow card for deliberate handball and Tranmere took full advantage with Luke Norris twice going close before Rob Apter made the game safe with 20 minutes remaining.

Adkins said: “It’s three very important points, three very good goals and a very welcome clean sheet.

“I thought it was a really good and disciplined performance by the team today and the crowd had something to sing about, especially in the second half.

“We’ve always talked about starting the game on the front foot and getting the ball into certain areas of the pitch to push them back and ideally get the first goal, and we’ve done that today and we’re really pleased.

“We’ve been working a lot on our set-pieces and we’re trying to get better at exposing the opposition, so it’s pleasing to see the first goal come from that hard work.

“It’s great for the fans and we’ve done what we needed to do, which is win the game and we could have scored more, and now we’ve got a really important game away at Sutton in the league.”

Frustrated Forest Green manager David Horseman said: “For all our pretty football it comes down to whether you want to take responsibility in both boxes but we were sadly lacking today.

“To get the sending off in such a ridiculous manner, the game has completely gone then and you’re out of it and we shot ourselves in the foot really.

“I thought we caused them a few problems and had the chances but some people have to take responsibility for their actions today, but we go back to work on Monday and try to improve.

“We lost 3-0 and there are no positives but it’s a massive learning curve and things will need to change moving forward.

“I really feel for the fans today to be honest and I appreciate that they are very frustrated with me and everything that’s going on.

“But we’ll keep working with the lads to try and improve and what the lads have got to do now is do a bit of soul searching to see if they have the fight and determination because today wasn’t good enough.”