Tranmere Rovers booked their place in next season’s EFL League Two with 2-1 victory over Boreham Wood at Wembley.
James Norwood was the man who secured League Two football for Tranmere, with a bullet header in the 79th minute. Tranmere did have to play almost the full 90 minutes with just 10 men after Liam Ridehalgh was sent off after 50 seconds for a two-footed challenge on Ricky Shakes.
The Merseysiders took the lead though in the seventh minute when Andy Cook scored a powerful header. Boreham Wood pulled a goal back in the eighth minute of first half stoppage time through Bruno Andrade, but the ten men of Tranmere withstood constant Boreham Wood pressure and on the 79th minute Norwood’s header squirmed past Grant Smith in the Boreham Wood goal to take Tranmere back to the Football League to the delight of the 10,000 travelling Tranmere fans.
Who are Tranmere?
Tranmere Rovers formed in 1884 but were originally called Belmont Football Club. They are a Merseyside based team, originating in Birkenhead. They became Tranmere Rovers only a year later in 1885.
They play their home matches at Prenton Park, which has been there home since 1912, the stadium holds 16,587 but the record attendance was 24,424 back in 1972 for an FA Cup tie with Stoke City. The stadium was the largest in the whole of Non-League football.
Famous faces at Tranmere
Tranmere can boast the fact that Everton’s all time leading goal scorer Dixie Dean started his career at Prenton Park. Dean spent two season’s in his native town of Birkenhead, before a prolific second season saw him snapped by Everton and the rest as they say is history.
Rovers have a few famous faces who support the club at Prenton Park. Question Time presenter David Dimbleby and his son Jonathan are part of the Super White Army, alongside TV presenter Paul O’Grady and ESPN and former BBC England reporter Ray Stubbs.
Tranmere’s short stay outside of the EFL
Tranmere fans have only had to wait three years to return to the EFL after being relegated in 2015. They almost made it back to the EFL last season as they reached the Play-Off final again but lost 3-1 to Forest Green Rovers. Tranmere had been ever present in the EFL until this point.
Some facts you might not know about Tranmere
Former Liverpool player, John Aldridge was on the books at Tranmere for ten years following a £250,000 transfer from Real Sociedad in 1991. Aldridge was player manager from 1994 till he retired from playing 1999, he did stay on as manager until 2001.
Tranmere were 90 minutes away from being a founding member of the newly formed Premier League but they lost to Swindon Town in the 1993 final. They would also go on to lose the next two Play-offs, losing to Leicester City in 1994 and losing in the semi-finals to Reading a year later.
It was also the Foxes who denied Tranmere a piece of major silverware in 2000 when Leicester ran out 2-1 winners in the League Cup. That was Tranmere’s first and only appearance in a major cup final.
Tranmere’s current captain is non other than veteran defender Steve McNulty, best known for his time with Luton Town, the hardman has made nearly 500 career appearances spanning 13 years in the game. McNulty came through the ranks at Liverpool before joining Burscough in 2003 where he failed to make an appearance for the first team, before going onto to play for Vauxhall Motors, Barrow, Fleetwood Town, Luton Town and finally Tranmere who he has now made over 100 appearances for.
23 teams will take the trip to the Wirral, to Prenton Park to face Tranmere Rovers next season.