Tranmere Rovers 1 Bristol Rovers 0

Bristol Rovers’ six-game unbeaten away run came under severe test at Prenton Park as a deflected free kick by Aaron Creswell gave Tranmere Rovers an interval lead.

The goal stemmed from one of the few real incidents of a scrappy opening period and came 10 minutes before the break after Byron Anthony was controversially penalised for handling.

Tranmere appealed for a penalty but referee Karl Evans gave a free kick just outside the box and Creswell saw his low strike take a deflection off home skipper Antony Kay before flying past Pirates' keeper Steve Phillips.

Bristol Rovers' coach Paul Trollope made three changes to the side that had suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Huddersfield Town last Tuesday as he abandoned the 4-3-2 formation adopted for the previous two games and returned to a more familiar 4-4-2 line-up.

Wingers David Pipe and Jeff Hughes were back in the team after illness and injury respectively, with Aaron Lescott replacing Joe Jacobson at left-back. The young Welsh defender returned to the bench, along with Jo Kuffour – who had netted Rovers’ goal against the Terriers – and Craig Disley.

There was a largely uneventful start to the game and it was 15 minutes before either keeper was called into action. Then a low free kick from Cresswell got past Rovers’ defensive wall past but Phillips made a comfortable low save

Rovers glimpsed a half-chance after 17 minutes when Ryan Green’s hopeful punt forward was chased by Lambert, but the striker miscued his attempt at an angled volley.

Hughes twice had opportunities to cause Tranmere problems midway through the half but was dispossessed on both occasions before Phillips was equal to former Bristol City striker Bas Savage’s attempt to stab the ball past him at the near post.

Tranmere’s breakthrough came when Anthony was judged to have handled the ball as he tried to intercept Ben Chorley’s pass towards Ian Moore. The Welshman insisted he had made contact with his chest, but referee Evans awarded a free kick after consulting his assistant and Cresswell’s deflected shot was the difference between the sides at the interval.

Lambert headed a Stuart Campbell corner not far over the top in stoppage time, but overall the Pirates had not caused Tranmere too many problems in the opening period.

Tranmere Rovers: Coyne, Edds, Chorley, Goodison, Cresswell, Sonko, Kay, Jennings, Barnett, Savage, Moore. Subs: Taylor, Gornell, Achterberg, Curran, Burns.

Bristol Rovers: Phillips, R Green, Anthony, Elliott, Lescott, Pipe, Campbell, Lines, Hughes, Lambert, Duffy. Subs: Jacobson, Hinton, Disley, Kuffour, St Louis-Hamilton.