Opposition view: Mellon 'doesn't regret' changes despite criticising Tranmere's first-half display

Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon labelled his side's first-half display as 'not good enough' after they were beaten 3-2 by Northampton on Saturday.

Rovers were second best in the first 45 minutes and trailed to Fraser Horsfall's headed brace at the break before Mitch Pinnock curled in a third.

The visitors did finish strong and scored two late goals but the damage had been done as they suffered their fourth defeat in five games, dropping them down to sixth in League Two.

"I'm really disappointed with the first-half performance," said Rovers boss Micky Mellon. "We never got going and we didn't fight hard enough to try and find a way of imposing ourselves on the game.

"The goals we gave away from set-pieces will always make it really difficult but the whole performance, especially in the first-half, was not up to standard.

"We changed formation but it didn't work on the day. I don't regret making those changes because last weekend wasn't good enough so things had to change and people deserved opportunities to come in.

"People let us down last week but unfortunately the changes didn't have the desired effect.

"We changed it again very early in the second-half and tried to get going and we started a little bit better but giving away the third goal made it really difficult.

"We showed some character to battle back late on and the subs gave us something but we had a mountain to climb and it wasn't enough.

"It goes back to the the first-half which wasn't at the levels that our group have performed to this season. It wasn't good enough."