Tranmere 2 Notts County 2

Last updated : 21 December 2002 By Footymad Previewer

It all went wrong for Tranmere after a great start against Notts County.

They found themselves down to nine men by the 86th minute and were denied two points by a County goal in the 90th minute.

Tranmere took only 37 seconds to grab the lead with Graham Allen heading in from a Mickey Mellon free-kick.

They doubled the advantage on ten minutes. Simon Haworth was the marksman this time with another header from a right-wing cross by Sean Connolly.

But then things began to go wrong. Tony Hackworth gave Tranmere a warning when he struck a post in the 24th minute.

Two minutes later the visitors pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after Allen floored Darren Caskey in the box. Mark Stallard fired into his top left hand corner.

Tranmere were down to ten men in the 45th minute with Ryan Taylor dismissed for a two-footed challenge on Ian Richardson.

Rovers comfortably withstood County for much of the second half and almost added to their lead with good efforts by Haworth.

But in the 86th minute Allen was given his marching orders for using foul and abusive language after a free kick was awarded.

John Achterberg made a fine save from a Stallard header but he was left stranded in the 90th minute, when Stallard grabbed the equaliser after good work by Caskey.

Mellon and Connolly collected yellow cards for Rovers whilst there were cautions for County men Ian Barraclough, Richardson, Jeff Whitley and Hackworth in a full-blooded affair.

Ray Matthias commented: "I was very disappointed with the referee's decisions. We have thrown away two points. I cannot fault anybody for lack of effort but we made mistakes and the players have got to learn."Billy Dearden, the County boss, said: "Against ten men I thought we would go on and win it but we did not move the ball about quickly enough. We got something out of it in the end but that was the only positive thing."