The Blues head to Prenton Park tomorrow to take on a Tranmere Rovers outfit who have won seven of their last eight games and who have hit the kind of form that is envied at what is a crucial stage of the campaign.
Speaking about the game at his weekly press conference, manager Steven Pressley said: “They’ve had an incredible run of results. They’re unbeaten in their last eight, they’ve had seven wins within those games and they really are the form team in the division.
“They’re picking up important results at the correct time and that’s partly because they’re a very robust team. They’re strong physically and they can stand up to the game.
“It’s always a difficult place to go and get a result, especially when their confidence is high, but it’s another game we should be really looking forward to.
“There’s always a team at this stage of the season that goes on a run like this. They have a good Scottish manager and it’ll be a really good challenge for us. They have some very good professionals in their team and they are very robust. They stand up to the rigours of this league well and they’ve found a way to win games which works for them.”
On the form of hitman James Norwood, who has bagged 28 goals in all competitions this season, he commented: “He’s obviously one player to look out for, but they have a number of attacking threats that we will also have to look at.
“He’s the league’s top scorer and I think he should be very proud of his work, because he’s another case where he’s come through non-league and joined the professional game slightly later than usual. That hasn’t mattered to him because he’s certainly making an impact, and well done to him.
“When it comes to dealing with a player like that, what you must always look at are the type of constants he has in his play. You sometimes can’t prevent certain goals from happening, but if there are certain things he does on a regular basis, or certain positions he takes up, then we have to make our defenders aware of that.”
“From the footage I’ve seen their pitch isn’t the best, so that’s another consideration for us,” he told us. “It’s one of many things we’ll be looking at as we work towards doing what I think we need to do to win there.
“We always give the opponents the respect they deserve but I’m one who really likes to concentrate on the way we go about our business. We have to see it as a must-win game and we have to go there determined to take all three points.
“If we don’t we could find ourselves really having to chase it for the last six games. I’m not hiding from the fact that we need to take more points and win more games than we have been doing.”
And on what will be another sizeable Blue Army following, he said: “Our fans are always right behind their team and they can play a big part. They’ll be there in their numbers and we really do appreciate it.
“It’s our responsibility to give them a performance that means they haven’t travelled for the wrong reasons. You can never guarantee results, but you should always guarantee maximum effort.”
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