Rovers' Johnstone's Paint Trophy campaign came to an end with a penalty shoot out defeat against Accrington Stanley at Prenton Park.

Enoch Showunmi netted for Tranmere to bring them level late in the game but the striker was the only player to miss from the spot as Rovers lost 5-3.  

Tranmere made three changes to the side that started at Dagenham & Redbridge with Ian Goodison rested and Paul McLaren and Joss Labadie ruled out through injury. Coming into the side were new loan signing Jermaine Grandison, Adam McGurk and Lucas Akins who were both making their full debuts. Striker Sam Morrow was named among the substitutes alongside new loan signing Arnaud Mendy. Former Rovers winger Andy Parkinson started for the visitors but Charlie Barnett missed out through injury.

Kayleden Brown, playing wide left in a 4-4-2 formation, brought a save out of Alex Cisak from Liam Darville's cross on three minutes.  

The visitors were forced into a change on 13 minutes when Tom Smyth replaced Johnny Bateson, while Enoch Showunmi sent a header at Cisak soon after.

Showunmi headed wide from Akins' cross on 19 minutes and Ryan Fraughan sent a first time shot past the post from the edge of the area three minutes later.

McGurk forced Cisak into a decent save with a shot on the turn from 16 yards, the last chance for either side from a relatively quiet half. Rovers had dominated possession and territory for much of the 45 minutes but had failed to overly test the Stanley defence.

John Welsh was replaced by Mendy at the start of the second half with Aaron Cresswell taking the captain's armband.

After Showunmi headed on to the roof of the net in the second minute of the half, the visitors took the lead with their first attack. A long ball forward saw Ray Putterill take advantage of some miscommunication between Blanchard and Collister to beat the keeper to the ball, cut inside and fire in at the near post beyond the outstretched leg of Blanchard.

Parkinson almost doubled the lead on 57 minutes but his low shot was parried by Collister before the ball was cleared.

Sam Morrow came on for his debut on 61 minutes in place of Brown while Jimmy Ryan tested Collister with a long range low effort four minutes later.

Morrow brought a save out of Cisak with a looping header on 70 minutes and McGurk shot high over the bar a couple of minutes later as Rovers looked for an equaliser.

Cresswell fired past the left hand post on 75 minutes and just as it perhaps started to look like Rovers were out of the competition they levelled. A mistake at the back from Dean Winard allowed Showunmi to race through on goal and fire through the goalkeeper's legs for his third goal in eight days.

Goodison came on for Blanchard in the second minute of added time, moments before the game went to a penalty shoot out.

Accrington took the first penalty...

Joyce 1-0
Fraughan 1-1
Parkinson 2-1
Showunmi 2-1 (over)
Murphy 3-1
McGurk 3-2
Edwards 4-2
Cresswell 4-3
Ryan 5-3

Referee: Mark Brown

Yellow cards: