Naive Albion pay the price

Results can sometimes be very misleading.

Goalless draws are occasionally exciting affairs and home wins, as in this instance, absurdly flattering.

Albion produced one of their best 45 minutes of the season, only to be undone by naivety in the final quarter-of-an-hour.

An 11th-minute own goal by Ian Goodison, forced by Doug Loft, was the very least Dean Wilkins' away specialists deserved for their first half performance.

It was chalk and cheese compared to Saturday's Withdean debacle against Doncaster, evoking memories of the 4-1 romp at Leyton Orient in February when Wilkins first introduced the midfield diamond formation.

The Seagulls, with Loft an effective figure at the advanced point of the diamond and Jake Robinson rejuvenated up front, could have returned from Birkenhead with a similarly emphatic victory if they had made more of their superiority.

Instead, a lapse in concentration allowed Rovers' rookie substitute Craig Curran to equalise as soon as he came on with 14 minutes left.

Albion were still on course for a decent point when Joel Lynch was left with Easter egg on his face. The 19-year-old centre half, fresh from accepting the blame for Doncaster's opening goal, needlessly gave away a penalty deep into stoppage time which Chris Greenacre converted to inflict a cruel defeat.

A crestfallen Wilkins, unimpressed by Tranmere's robust and direct approach, said: "It's a massive kick in the teeth. In the first half it was the best we have performed in that shape from an attacking point of view probably since the Orient game but we just didn't take advantage of the chances and situations we had. We should have gone in two up at least.

"In the second half we still had some good situations and it was basically a bombardment, balls getting smashed from back to front. I thought Tranmere were very physical and unfortunately we couldn't hold out."

Wilkins made five changes following the meek Doncaster defeat, the majority of which were forced upon him.

Jake Robinson and Tommy Fraser came in for groin injury victims Alex Revell and Alexis Bertin.

Kerry Mayo (shin) and Alex Frutos (ankle) were also sidelined, so Sam Rents returned at left-back with Dean Cox ahead of him.

Tommy Elphick was a little unfortunate to be relegated to the bench after a respectable full debut but it was understandable that Wilkins wanted to restore the experience, dependability and organisational qualities of Guy Butters.

The Seagulls had a spring in their step from the outset and, although the early breakthrough had an element of fortune about it, Loft's desire was instrumental.

He won a challenge to force the ball wide to Cox and made a run in behind his marker to collect the pass and toe-poke a low cross which Goodison, Tranmere's captain and Jamaican international centre-half, diverted into his own net at the near post.

Albion's vibrance on the break could have produced at least one more goal, possibly more, in the first half.

They should have been ahead even earlier, Adam El-Abd heading down and wide from six yards when unmarked from a Rents free-kick.

Cox's swivelling volley from a cross by Robinson forced Gavin Ward into a smart save at the expense of a corner which Fraser dummied for Rents to thunder against the bar from the edge of the area.

Cox had another shot from Savage's knockdown held by Ward, who was much busier in the opening 45 minutes than Scott Flinders.

The keeper on-loan from Crystal Palace did make one important stop, diving to his right to parry Goodison's free header from a corner in only the fourth minute. Without that the pattern of the first half could have been rather different.

Tranmere, downtrodden following the weekend defeat at Blackpool which ended their play-off hopes, were marginally more threatening after the break without looking like equalising.

Flinders was called into nothing more than routine action on a couple of occasions and Albion were comfortable until substitute Curran made a dramatic impact on his home debut for Rovers.

The 17-year-old right winger, free-scoring in the reserves, had been on for less than a minute when he slid in to convert Shane Sherriff's cross at the far post.

The first away goal conceded by the Seagulls for almost five-and-a-half hours was more than Tranmere deserved at that stage but Wilkins's young side just lacked the nous to hang onto a point.

A smart turn just inside the right-hand edge of the penalty area by Greenacre, in the third minute of time added on, induced a needless challenge from Lynch.

The absence of complaints from Lynch's colleagues suggested the decision by referee Anthony Bates to award a penalty was the right one and, although Flinders got a despairing hand to the spot-kick, Greenacre ended up as the matchwinner again, just as he was at Withdean earlier in the season.

Wilkins admitted Lynch "didn't need to make a challenge because the guy was going away from goal" but he was surprisingly scathing otherwise of Bates.

Asked what upset him in particular, he said: "Absolutely every decision really. It was quite incredible the number of free-kicks he gave to them for nothing challenges but I don't want to use that as an excuse, because we should have killed the game off by then."

ALBION (4-1-2-1-2): Scott Flinders; Zesh Rehman, Guy Butters, Joel Lynch, Sam Rents; Adam El-Abd; Tommy Fraser, Dean Cox; Doug Loft; Jake Robinson, Bas Savage. Subs: Nick Ward for Loft (withdrawn 79), Gary Hart for Fraser (withdrawn 79), Nathan Elder for Butters (withdrawn 90), Michel Kuipers, Tommy Elphick.

TRANMERE (4-4-2): Gavin Ward; Robbie Stockdale, John Thompson, Ian Goodison, Shane Sherriff; Chris Shuker, Paul McLaren, Danny Harrison, Kevin Ellison; Calvin Zola, Chris Greenacre. Subs: Steve Davies for Ellison (withdrawn 62), Craig Curran for Shuker (withdrawn 75), Gareth Taylor, Ben Hinchliffe, Chris McCready.