Match Preview: Leeds United U21s

14 September 2021

Tranmere Rovers kick off this season’s Papa John’s Trophy campaign with a home game against Leeds United U21s at Prenton Park, 7pm kick off.

Rovers managed to get all the way to Wembley last season and will be hoping to make use of the competition again this year.

Ticket information for this game can be found here

Team News

Joe Murphy will miss this game after going off with a head injury against Rochdale on Saturday. We will provide an update on this as soon as we have it

Callum McManaman suffered a leg injury on Saturday and will be assessed over the coming days.

One to Watch

Joe Geldhart

Born in Liverpool, the young striker came through the ranks of Wigan Athletic having been there since the age of ten.

He made his first team debut for The Latics in 2018, coming on as a substitute against Rotherham United. In 2019, he scored his first goal for the Club after coming on as a substitute against Birmingham City.

Having caught the eye of Premier League side Leeds United, he signed a four year contract at Elland Road in August 2020.

Geldhart has also represented England at international level from U16s to U20s.

Manager

Mark Jackson

A former player at Leeds, Jackson is now the man in charge of the U23 side at Elland Road.

Starting his career in 1995, he represented his home town club for five years until the year 2000.

The next five years were spent at Scunthorpe United where he would make 136 appearances for The Iron before spells at Kidderminster, Rochdale and Farsley Celtic.

In terms of his coaching career, Jackson began as Leeds’ U16s coach and has gradually been promoted up the ranks, eventually replacing Carlos Coreberan as U23s manager as he became Huddersfield Town Head Coach.

Last season, he guided Leeds United U23 to the title in the Premier League 2 Division 2 and remained unbeaten at home.

Match Coverage

Tuesday’s game will be streamed live on iFollow to both international and UK residents.

Match passes are available for just £10 by clicking here. Every pass purchased benefits Tranmere Rovers.

You can follow the action through our social media channels below, with full text coverage during the fixture, followed by a match report.

Twitter: @tranmererovers

Facebook: @trfcofficial

Instagram: @tranmererovers

Match reaction from Micky Mellon and a player will follow on our website and YouTube channel.

Match Previews

Match Reports

Tranmere 4-1 Leeds United U21s

14 September 2021

A brace from Nicky Maynard and Sam Foley sealed a 4-1 win for Tranmere Rovers against Leeds United U21s at Prenton Park in the first group game in the Papa John’s Trophy.

Lee O’Connor made his first start for the Club after re-joining on loan from Celtic. Also named in the starting eleven was Stephen Walker, who is with Tranmere for the season from Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough.

In the seventh minute, Peter Clarke galloped from his own penalty box to the Leeds box, gliding past three challenges, and he cleverly played a pass into the feet of Maynard to side foot home his first Rovers goal.

Ten minutes later, Leeds won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty box. A ball was swung into Ross Doohan’s penalty area but was headed over the crossbar.

Tranmere were comfortable in the opening 30 minutes against the young Premier League side, and looked the more likely to score the second goal of the game, even though Leeds were comfortable when in possession at Prenton Park, Sean McGurk in particular looking the dangerman.

Leeds had the ball in the net 15 minutes before the interval, but the goal was chalked off for offside, but a caution of warning for Micky Mellon’s men.

A nice Tranmere move saw Foley and Paul Glatzel link up well, as they did at Oldham in the Carabao Cup for the opening goal last month, with the former having a shot from the edge of the box palmed over the cross bar.

From the resulting corner, Foley made a front post run to meet Mark Duffy’s corner to head home and put Rovers well in command against Leeds U21s.

Rovers went searching for number three, and Glatzel shimmied away from a Leeds defender to drag a shot just wide of the right hand post.

The third did arrive in the form of Maynard’s second of the night. Walker threaded an inch perfect through ball to the former Bristol City man, as he held off the attention of the Leeds centre backs to neatly put the ball into the far corner to round off a great first half for Tranmere.

Into the second half, and after a quiet start to proceedings, Rovers made two changes, with Joe Maguire and Emmanuel Dieseruvwe came on for Calum MacDonald and Maynard in the 57th minute.

Moments after the changes, an excellent corner once again from Duffy was met by Clarke, but our skipper for the night headed over the cross bar.

McGurk found acres of space on the left channel, he cut inside and a strong palm by Doohan denied the Yorkshire side a goal back.

And soon enough, Leeds did, as Amari Miller caught the Tranmere defence napping, and the number 27 tucked the ball past Doohan from close range.

Chances were at a premium after Leeds’ goal, with the visitors creating a couple of opportunities but nothing to worry Celtic loanee Doohan inbetween the sticks for Rovers.

Rovers’ last change saw Josh Hawkins replace Duffy after a strong display by the former Sheffield United man.

Rovers added a fourth late on when Foley joined Maynard on a brace when he slammed the ball past the goalkeeper Dani van den Heuvel in the 88th minute to seal a comfortable victory.

Tranmere: Doohan, O’Connor, Knight Percival, Clarke, MacDonald (Maguire 57), Foley, Merrie, Walker, Duffy (Hawkes 75), Glatzel, Maynard (Dieseruvwe 57). Unused subs: Jones, Watson, Feeney , Davies.

Our next game will be this coming Saturday as we play host to Salford City, 3pm kick-off at Prenton Park. To purchase tickets, please visit trfctickets.co.uk.