All fine for Prenton

Paul Simpson and Dennis Booth had the lads in as normal this morning to assess what affect the exertions on Saturday might have had on their squad ahead of the trip to Tranmere.

Simmo told us, "it was a good session and we were pleased to see that all of the lads had reported in with no major worries or problems."

"Mind you," he told us, "there was a bit of a scare when Chris Billy took a whack on the same place as where the stitches had been but he came away from it smiling, and I don't think it will make much difference to him being available."

"As I said yesterday," he continued, "we take this competition very seriously indeed so we'll be sending a strong team out there to try and do the business."

The good news from the session today means that the only player not available for tomorrow night is the cup tied striker, Michael Bridges. Simmo said, "we always knew he'd miss this one, so it isn't really a problem. Obviously he would prefer to be involved but there's nothing we can do about it."

As to whether negotiations to keep the Bristol City man at Brunton Park permanently were nearing completion he added, "I never expected it to be done quickly, and certainly didn't think we would be in a position to announce anything in the next few days. We have spoken to Michael and his agent and we now have to wait for them to make sure that everything is as they want it. I don't foresee any problems, as we want him here and he seems to want to be here, but these kinds of things aren't something that you can rush."

Keep an eye on the Official site for all the news on signings and transfers.