Sunderland v Tranmere Rovers – Skybet League One Last time out Sunderland lost at Wycombe and Tranmere drew with Southend. Sunderland welcome Tranmere to the Stadium of Light for Phil Parkinson’s first home game in charge. Phil Parkinson will have a lot to think about after a disappointing display at Adams Park on Saturday. Charlie Wyke suffered ankle ligament damage and is likely to be out of action for at least four weeks. Aiden McGeady picked up his 5th yellow card for the season and will be suspended for Tuesday’s game. Laurens De Bock remains doubtful with a muscle tear. Tranmere are fifth from bottom but level on points with Portsmouth and have recently taken Coventry’s unbeaten home record. Phil Parkinson: “We had a lot of the ball, but did we create enough and show enough quality? Probably not.” “It wasn’t a lack of effort and heart from the lads, we just didn’t produce enough moments of quality to get the goal back. “We know it is about producing those moments and you saw it in the final minutes with McGeady when the keeper pulled off an absolutely outstanding save, but when you have as much of the ball as we did - certainly in the second half - you have to produce more, and the final ball has got to be better.” We’re not going to get too low from the defeat, we have to dust ourselves down and get ready for Tuesday night” "We have a very busy period coming up and we have lost Charlie Wyke to an ankle ligaments injury. It doesn’t look good, we will get him scanned quickly and an assessment on that." Micky Mellon: "I didn't think that we started anywhere near the tempo that the game asked of us, that we didn't for some reason want to meet or go above those levels, you sometimes get that and I don't know why. "You've got to try and make the tempo of the game, the running power of the game, the knockdowns of the game, we came out as the home team and we never really did that today, we gave away a really poor goal. "It is a really poor goal and you would have to say that, I'm just trying to make sure that I stand here and never make excuses." Prutton predicts: Meh Match Appointments: Referee: CARL BOYESON Assistants: David Avent and Kevin Mulraine Fourth Official: Paul Brown Team Line ups Sunderland: Burge, C McLaughlin, Hume, Willis, Lynch, Power, Dobson, O’Nien, Gooch, Maguire, McNulty Subs:J. McLaughlin, Flanagan, Leadbitter, McGeouch, Watmore, Grigg Injured: Embleton, Wyke, De Bock Suspended: McGeady Tranmere Rovers Davies, Caprice, Ray, Monthe, Ridehalgh, Morris, Danns, Perkins, Hepburn-Murphy, Blackett-Taylor Subs: Nelson, Mullin, Jennings, Ponticelli, Wilson, Pilling, Borthwick-Jackson Injured: Banks, Gilmour, Potter, Miller, Ferrier Betting Odds: Home 8/15 Away 9/2 Draw 3/1 My two pence: We need to win this one and get back on track as quick as possible. I expect a few changes from Saturday’s line up given the injury and suspension that we already know about. Hopefully a new forward line will result in a few more shots on target. My guess is a 2-1 home win Ha’way the Lads
Think we will win. But I'm not sure where our next positive performance will come from. Having said that, I'd just take the 3 points now, convincingly or unconvincingly. 2-0 ill go for.
I’m away up Berwick for this game but I’ll be following on alerts etc. I think we will play with a desire and win 3-0
In a caravan. I’ve spent a fortune in my WiFi package already this month. Will settle for seeing the goals as and when.
We will win this one Parkinson has had a little more time with them so I’d expect a more solid defence. I’ll go for 3-0
I’ve got a weird feeling about this one. At work till half 4 so will be driving through, and therefore sober. I’m expecting a weird, strained atmosphere, whereby it’s hard to ge overly excited, but we don’t wanna be too negative. Tell you what though, I fancy the lads to turn up. I fancy a good win. 4-0.
Tranmere's recent win at Coventry was very flattering. Coventry dominated from start to finish. Coventry's striker (Godden) had plenty of good chances but didn't take any of them.
Interesting that both teams have never scored in the same game when playing each other. I therefore say 2-0 the lads.
It'll be interesting to see how they continue if we go one up. …… and if we got to the heady heights of two in front
We need a win, and this is a big chance that we simply have to take it. The injury curse is still a factor, but that stupid yellow on Saturday has prevented any plan B tonight. I hope Parky keeps reading our threads and starts to think outside the box, and not box himself in too much like JR. That is still a decent team up top and should see us scrape home, so well done as usual RTB and celebrations all round.
Absolutely with you on that - people say "clean sheet" this and that - not bothered about a clean sheet - if we win every game 4-3 between now and the end of the season, we win the league! That's all that bothers me