Ahead of Tranmere Rovers’ trip up to Kent to face Gillingham, Rovers manager Micky Mellon and winger Josh Hawkes spoke to the media ahead of the game.
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“We want to set up well and be difficult to beat”
Until a leaky spell at the back, Tranmere were one of the division’s most defensively astute outfits, without posing a big threat down the other end of the field.
Rovers have improved defensively in their last few games though, and a helping hand has been veteran shot-stopper Joe Murphy, and Mellon wants his side to continue their ways of being relatively difficult to break down.
“We want to win every game that we play, and we’ll try to keep the run going and attack every game, we’ll continue to do that and that’s the correct attitude, as long as we’re working hard, and we want to set up well and be difficult to beat.
“Gillingham have tried to get themselves out of the predicament that they are in. They’ve got a good manager, I know Neil really well and they’ve started to get away from the bottom end of the table.
“If we create chances we need to be scoring goals which have made Tranmere successful in the past because of it, so it’s important the players keep working hard, and we’ll find a way.”
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Paul Lewis and Brad Walker injury update
In a season where Tranmere have been very unfortunate with injuries, two players, Paul Lewis and Brad Walker, are expected to be sidelined for a while.
“They are both probably going to be long-term, so we’re not going to have them for a good few weeks yet. It’s a big blow as they’re both experienced players and they’d been doing well, like Kane, until they got injured, but that’s part and parcel of football and we’ll have to find another way.”
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Josh Hawkes on “tough” Gillingham test
Tranmere’s threat in front of goal has recently came from the dangerous winger, Josh Hawkes, who’s chipped in with many goals of late, with him netting the all important equaliser to hand Tranmere a point on Saturday.
He, like the rest of his squad, will be looking to prove a point as Tranmere head down south.
“We’ll be going to Gillingham trying to get the three points. The teams down the bottom, they have a squad that shouldn’t really be down there, it will be a tough game but I’m sure we can hopefully get the win.
“We need to keep the composure in games to take chances when they come, as confidence is a massive thing.
“We needed the break, the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday games can be tough with the amount of games we had, it was good to get back on the training pitch and work on what we need to get better at."
