Opposition view: Mellon 'thought the referee was terrible' but has no excuses for Tranmere's loss to Cobblers

'It was one of the poorest performances I've seen for a long, long time.'
Micky Mellon.Micky Mellon.
Micky Mellon.

Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon wasn't willing to use the 'terrible' performance of referee Tom Nield as an excuse for his side's defeat to Northampton on Saturday.

Tranmere were unbeaten at Prenton Park this season but that record came to a crashing end after being outplayed by the impressive Cobblers.

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Kion Etete's strike early in the second-half followed by a penalty from Sam Hoskins was the least the visitors deserved for their dominant performance.

"I thought the referee was terrible to be honest," said Mellon afterwards "It was one of the poorest performances I've seen for a long, long time. There's a blatant sending off that he missed.

"But I'm not going to use that as an excuse for us today because we didn't perform the way that we know we can and we're obviously disappointed.

"We want to win every game but I think we lacked a bit of sparkle today. We didn't have any quality in the box and the goals we gave away are disappointing because that's not been like us recently.

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"The game then fizzled out. We tried to find a way of getting that spark into the team but it just wasn't to be.

"We didn't have the composure to find the right pass at vital times and we couldn't get into the areas that we have been getting into recently.

"I'm not sure if that was down to running power or decision-making but the goals we gave away were disappointing and that made it difficult for ourselves."