Blues beat freeze and Tranmere to climb out of dropzone

Feb 4 2012 By Greg Burns at Adams Park

Wycombe 2-1 Tranmere

WYCOMBE climbed out of the bottom four with a nervy home win over relegation rivals Tranmere.

Rovers' visit to Adams Park was one of just four games to survive the freezing conditions sweeping the country.

And Wanderers took full advantage by hauling themselves out of the League One dropzone with a nervy victory.

They had to do it the hard way after Rovers striker Adam McGurk tried his luck with a 25-yard effort with five minutes on the clock.

His fizzing drive had enough pace and swerve on it to beat Nikki Bull and test Wycombe's character.

It was a test they passed.

But they also had Lady Luck to thank with Tranmere rattling the crossbar twice in the second-half and forcing Blues into some desperate defending to bag the vital win.

They were helped along the way by an inspirational first-half captain's performance from Gareth Ainsworth with the 38-year-old bagging an assist and a goal before he limped off in the second-half.

Wanderers reacted superbly to falling behind and their deserved equaliser came on 23 minutes when Stuart Beavon slid in Ainsworth with a neat through ball down the right hand side.

The veteran Blues skipper showed a turn of pace that defied his advancing years and dinked in the perfect cross to allow striker Matt Whichelow to become the fifth Blues player to score on his full debut this season after joining on loan from Watford on deadline day.

Blues were on top and took the lead on the half hour mark after some calamitous Tranmere defending.

Whichelow turned provider when his cross caused havoc with Rovers defender David Buchanan inexplicably heading towards his own goal and forcing stopper Owain Fon Williams to pull off a superb stop.

The ball fell to Ainsworth who tried to tee up Matt Bloomfield but was then able to rifle the ball in from a tight angle when it in to his path.

Things got scrappy after the break with Tranmere looking to capitalise on some nervy home defending to hit back in a half they dominated.

They came close to levelling on 62 minutes when a mistake by Dave Winfield let in Mustafa Tiryaki who saw his curling shot come back off the crossbar.

Tranmere came even closer moments later when Wanderers needed two goal-line clearances to prevent a certain goal as the visitors cranked up the pressure with captain John Welsh seeing a free-kick also hit the crossbar.

It was not pretty and far from convincing but the three points were all that counted for Wycombe as their survival bid took another twist.

WANDERERS: Bull, Laing, Winfield, Johnson, Basey, Ainsworth (McNamee 69), Bloomfield, Harper, Strevens, Beavon, Whichelow (Lewis 79).

Subs (not used): Foster, Grant, McClure.

Booked: Johnson (70 mins).

TRANMERE: Fon Williams, Holmes, Buchanan, Goodison, McChrystal, Devaney (Weir 46), Welsh, Wallace (Elford-Alliyu 69), Akins, McGurk, Tiryaki (Brunt 63).

Subs (not used): Coughlin, Taylor.

Booked: None.

Att: 4,398.

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