Laws: Both teams were drab

Last updated : 20 November 2005 By Daniel Elwes
Brian Laws
Each side converted a penalty, with Ian Sharps scoring for Tranmere and Billy Sharp for Scunthorpe, before Delroy Facey scored the winner for Rovers after 76 minutes.

Laws said: "I was disappointed with our overall performance, but I thought both teams were very drab. We battled hard against a physical side who gave our strikers little room.

"There was no fluency in the game, it was constantly stop, stop, stop.

"We were slow out of the tracks, we need to use a high-tempo approach, we were miles behind what we can do.

"It took two penalties to spark the game and I thought both were harsh. We were pressing hard at that late stage, and then we went on to concede a goal from our own corner.

"They made it very difficult for us, our possession and creativity was poor and we gave no service to our strikers.

"We cannot be on the crest of a wave every game and this has knocked the stuffing out of us.

"I thought the red card on Hinds was tough, we shall look at the video, but sometimes they don't help."

Tranmere boss Brian Little was relieved to see his side's physical approach pay dividends and ease the pressure on him - with his chairman criticising his lack of signings during the week.

He said: "It may not have been a convincing performance, but we were very strong and kept them quiet.

"We are not a bad team, we had a strong back four and it worked for us.

"With regards to the penalties, I thought one decision was right, and one wrong and I thought here we go again, but thankfully we won the game.

"There was a degree of confusion for a while after their equaliser, but we settled everybody down and got our reward.

"We have a good team spirit and I have no problems at the club, but we shall be trying to pep up our squad, like so many others, prior to Christmas."