'Really angry' Clarke demands response from Tranmere against Cobblers
Tranmere Rovers manager Darrell Clarke is expecting a big response from his players against Northampton after being left ‘really angry’ by Saturday’s second half performance against Barnet.
A stunning finish by Will Vaulks saw Tranmere go into half-time leading 1-0 at Prenton Park, but Kabongo Tshimanga’s second half brace turned things around. Joel Senior also saw red for two yellow cards, meaning he is ruled out of Tuesday’s game at Sixfields.
Rovers are now four matches without a win and lie a couple of points above Cobblers in the early League Two standings, although they have played two games more.
“I was really angry with the second half to be honest,” said Clarke. “We just never got going. We lost control, we lost duels and we were overrun and it was so disappointing after the first half.
“It was like we had never played together. We kept giving the ball away and defensively we were too deep and we gave away two really cheap goals. I have to analyse why that happened and why we never got control again.
“It’s so frustrating managing this group at the moment because the potential is there, I know it is, but we were miles off it in the second half. We can’t accept that.
“We have a game on Tuesday so we can’t dwell on it and feel sorry for ourselves. It’s a really frustrating period but we have to get on with it and we have to make sure we bounce back at Northampton.”