Carlisle make the journey down to Prenton Park tomorrow as they hope to be the latest side to add to a defeat into the loss column of a Tranmere team who have failed to take even a draw out of their last four matches. Rovers having already lost ten of their twenty league games so far this season, with a hefty record of 31 goals conceded sitting in the against column, 15 of those having come on the Wirral in ten matches.
The Birkenhead side had though been on a relatively good run of form until those four defeats in a row as they had picked up five wins, one draw and only two losses in all competitions. That stretch of games is as good as it has got for Rovers so far this season as prior to that league and cup matches had seen them only earn three wins, four draws and seven defeats up to the 16th of October.
Goalscoring-wise, and despite his poor performance in Tranmere's 2-0 League One defeat at Brunton Park in early November, Enoch Showunmi is the man to watch with seven goals from open play, while veteran penalty taker Ian Thomas-Moore has also hit the back of the net on seven occasions this season. Highly rated young winger Dale Jennings meanwhile taking the bronze medal in the Rovers goalscoring charts this season with four successful strikes.
In team news for Tranmere tomorrow, they will definitely be without experienced midfielder Alan Mahon who is now nearing match fitness after undergoing knee surgery last summer, and Leeds-loanee full-back Liam Darville who will be going back to Elland Road tomorrow at the end of his temporary Prenton Park spell due to a head injury.
Two other players not in the Rovers squad tomorrow are youngsters Jack Mackreth and Max Power who just before Christmas joined Evo-Stik Premier Division outfit Colwyn Bay on loan, the Seagulls currently being player-managed by former Tranmere favourite Dave Challinor. While the final Rovers man absent is centre-half Marlon Broomes who is now serving a one match ban after being sent off for a professional foul in Tranmere's 3-2 defeat at Rochdale on Saturday.
Finally come two footballers who will be entering and leaving Prenton Park at pretty much the same time. Firstly Manchester-City loanee goalkeeper Gunnar Neilsen, who is currently out through illness, will go back to Eastlands this week, and secondly former Wolves and more recently Derry City centre-half Mark McChrystal, who has joined Rovers on a six-month contract late last week is ineligible for selection at the moment as Tranmere await international registration clearance on the 26-year old.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Dave Foster from Newcastle and he will be assisted down the lines by Simon Bennett from Stoke-on-Trent and Jason Tyas from Holme Valley in West Yorkshire. Meanwhile the fourth official is Simeon Lucas from Darwen in Lancashire.