A match which was billed by many as an away win before the game turned out to be a very fair contest. In fact, many will agree that top of the table Charlton were lucky to get a point. Ryan Brunt's first goal for Rovers was cancelled out by Sean Morrison's powerful header.

Throughout the game, Tranmere looked very organised across the side. The three central midfielders, Welsh, Wallace and Weir all worked hard, to stop the dangerous Charlton central midfielders, Stephens and Hollands. On the whole, it was a game of two halves. Tranmere bossed the first period, and after taking the lead after 33 minutes, still looked in complete control of the match. A clever bit of improvisation by Martin Devaney, provided Ryan Brunt with a goal-scoring opportunity, of which he obliged. Brunt's first goal for the club, should hopefully give the young lad on loan from Stoke City, a massive confidence boost.

The second half was a different story, Charlton came out meaning business. It was as if Chris Powell had gave the players a big kick up the backside saying: "we're top of the league for a reason lads." Tranmere began to sit back, and after a small mistake by David Buchanan, Charlton were awarded a corner. It was whipped in by Danny Green and was met by Sean Morrison who powerfully headed beyond Owain Fon Williams via the cross bar.

The game had yet another element of deja-vu for Tranmere to it. After taking the lead in many games this season, we constantly sit back and allow the opposition into the game. You would of thought that manager Les Parry would of noticed this with it happening so many times, evidently not. Rovers have dropped more points after taking the lead than any other team in this division. A worrying statistic. If Rovers had held on to these leads, we would be comfortably sitting in a play off place as I write. Unfortunately, we're languishing in the bottom half of the table after only one win in the last 18 games.

With the six teams below Tranmere all winning yesterday, Rovers are slowly being sucked into yet another relegation battle.  One win in 18 has seen Rovers slip down the table at a dramatic rate. Next week's away game against Oldham is now a must-win match. If Rovers don't win, things are going to need to change in order for results to pick up  and  move us away from the bottom of the league.

The Latics come into the game against Rovers on the back of a 5-0 drubbing by MK Dons and so we can hope that their players will be suffering from a lack of confidence. However their players will also know that they owe their fans a big performance at Boundary Park after their defeat but then again so will the Tranmere players.

By Tranmere blogger James Formstone

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