End of season report

For the benefit of those who follow lower league football less closely than others, Tranmere missed out on the play-offs after letting one in two mins from time against Scunthorpe.

Cruel indeed but, given my thoughts at the start of the season, to even be in the mix on the last day was a real achievement.

Ronnie Moore is not quite the tactician he thinks he is, but he has done well for us this year. Rovers are skint, attendances are down and even the chairman wants out. On the playing front, our squad was put together at the last minute and includes a seemingly random selection of players, most of whom you've never heard of before.

So to come 7th - and to gather an impressive 74 points in the process - is overachieving on a grand scale.

What's surprised me is how little we've relied on our so-called best players during the campaign.

I thought Greenacre and Curran would be our first choice partnership up front but, while injuries haven't helped their cause, Ian Moore and Bas Savage have looked far more effective as a pairing.

Similarly, Steve Jennings delayed signing a contract at the start of the year, thinking that he would be snapped up by someone at a higher level. Hmmm. He's not bad, but has been overshone all year by Anthony Kay for me. Subtle he (Kay) isn't, but without him in centre mid I reckon we would have been steamrollered more than once.

And I'd actually even forgotten Chris Shuker was on the books.

Apparently, Ian Goodison has signed up for two years. That's good news, even if he'll miss nearly half that through suspension, but it looks like further resignings will be in short supply. We've got even less cash than last year and much of the squad is out of contract so it's not looking good.