Pete Wild fumes as Tranmere ‘switch off’ to record yet another defeat

Tranmere interim boss Pete Wild lambasted his side’s failure to do the basics after a 1-0 defeat at Shrewsbury extended their miserable run.

Rovers were plunged deeper into relegation trouble after losing to Sam Stubbs’ header at New Meadow.

Wild’s side, which he only inherited less than a month ago, are just three points above the League Two relegation zone after being 15 points clear at the turn of the year.

The draw at Fleetwood in Wild’s first match at the helm remains Tranmere’s only point since mid February – a run of nine matches – and they have just one win from their previous 16 outings.

Wild said: “I’m frustrated because ultimately nothing’s happened in the football match.

“We’ve got to be more ruthless and have more character about us in and around the box to take our chances.

“We switched off, we don’t do the basics and ultimately that’s cost us.

“It’s been the case all season. I’ve just said in the dressing room that the things that have happened all season are still there in terms of defending the middle of the goal, clearing the ball out of the box, marking your men, showing a personality in their final third.

“We need people wanting to get on the ball in that final third.

“We can talk about the gap all we want, but if we get our results then we’ll be fine.

“I still think we’ll be fine, but we need to keep drilling the basics into them.

“We thought we had a good two weeks getting our messages across, but sadly they haven’t hit home when they’re out there.

“League Two football is about defending in your own box and keeping your composure when you get the chance and we haven’t done either of those things.

“Sadly they’ve come out on top in a game that should have ended zip zip.”

Town are now 11 points clear of danger after snapping their four-game losing streak with a victory.

Head coach Gavin Cowan said: “The biggest thing I focused on was the players wanting to play for the shirt and being willing to get hurt.

“We needed to be braver in the first half, and we showed that bravery in a 20-minute spell in the second half and got the goal in that time.

“The players have had a tough season and understandably the closer we got they went on the back foot.

“When you don’t put away some of the chances we created, there is a bit of danger at 1-0.

“When you talk about willing to get hurt Sam Stubbs is what I’m talking about, the amount of headers he goes for. Stubbsy’s a leader. He sometimes tries to do too much.

“When he simplifies his game, like today, you get performances like today. He’s a warrior of a defender.”