Nigel Adkins hailed Tranmere’s “Super White Army” as the Prenton Park crowd roared their side to victory over Harrogate.
Visiting Town took the lead thanks to a James Daly wonder-goal but Rovers soon equalised through Kristian Dennis, before Omari Patrick sealed a 2-1 win in the second half.
Adkins said: “We’ve gone behind in the game, it was a wonderful goal for them, but we stuck together, we were resilient, we were engaged by the fans – thank you, Super White Army! They got right behind the players.
“We played some nice football and should have scored a few more goals, but I was loving the endeavouring and the enthusiasm in the team.
“The lads grafted hard. We’ve been in some situations this season where we’ve played brilliant football and not won the game – today we played brilliant football and won the game.
“All in all, it was smiles on faces. It’s just one game, and now we focus on the next, but we were great today.
“Tom Davies coming back in as captain, and even though he was struggling towards the end, he led by example. And when we play, we can play and break really well.
“Right at the end, Omari Patrick was still running, and they gave us the opportunity to play like that on the transition, and there was some really nice football from the likes of Kristian Dennis and Connor Jennings.”
Daly’s superb left-foot effort dipped over keeper Luke McGee in the 15th minute but Dennis levelled via a deflection 10 minutes later and Jennings sent Patrick through in the second half to fire home off a post.
Town boss Simon Weaver said: “I’m disappointed for the fans and everybody on our side.
“We started really well, on the front foot, the game plan was working. It was a great goal by James Daly and I was pleased for him.
“Tranmere wanted to pass the ball and it was almost like the gloves went up a little bit. We dropped off our defensive line and then failed to win the second balls that we were winning, and relinquished the control that we had in the game.
“We had an opportunity for a penalty – we thought it was a blatant one that should have been given, and that obviously was a shame for the players, who up until that point were in the driving seat. But then we did drop off as a team.
“In the second half, we didn’t make the extra man count in the middle of the park. I was trying to scream out to them to split the play and pass it more but the fear factor crept in, I think, and it was a case of just hoping we’d hold out. It was fingers crossed rather than us really stamping our authority on the match”.
