Rovers skipper Clarke furious with Tranmere's 'unacceptable' performance against Cobblers

Tranmere Rovers captain Peter Clarke has demanded more of his team-mates ‘stand up and be counted’ after blasting their ‘unacceptable’ performance in defeat to the Cobblers on Saturday.

Tranmere were a distant second best for 75 minutes of the contest and found themselves 3-0 down following Fraser Horsfall’s brace and a pinpoint finish from Mitch Pinnock.

The visitors did finish strongly, pulling two goals back through Josh McPake and Kane Hemmings, but it was too little too late as they succumbed to their fourth defeat in five games, dropping them down to sixth in League Two.

“The mood in the dressing room is rubbish to be honest,” said Clarke. “No-one likes getting beat and the first-half was poor, unacceptable, but we can’t keep coming out here and saying that because it’s happened too many times.

“We’re now at the business end of the season and we need players to be reliable and to stand up and be counted but at the minute there’s not enough doing that.

“You expect players to stand up. It’s a prerequisite of playing a football match – going out there and working as hard as you possibly can, competing for every ball and having the drive and determination to be better than the individual you’re playing against.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, we are coming out on the wrong side of too many battles. You have to win those battles, it’s a non-negotiable. Games are rarely won in the first 10 or 15 minutes so we have to compete for an hour, 75 minutes, all the way until the end.

“It might take an hour until you get your noses in front but we have to make sure we are giving ourselves a better opportunity to win games than we are at the moment.

"The way you turn it around is by working hard and players taking responsibility for their actions. That's a major starting point because players shouldn't look anywhere else other than themselves for their own performances.

"At the minute, there's not enough performances that are good enough, quite simply, which is why we are coming out on the wrong side of games. It's sink or swim. We don't want to look back and think 'what if' - we have to make sure we do what's required."