Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon is expecting a tough afternoon when his side make the journey to Gigg Lane for a Sky Bet League Two fixture at promotion-chasing Bury on Saturday.
Rovers head to Greater Manchester aiming to get back to winning ways in the league but will be in high spirits after Connor Jennings’ double earning an FA Cup win at Southport on Monday, with the 2-0 triumph setting up a third-round tie with Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur.
Boss Mellon is hoping for a positive performance from his players, though he acknowledged that the Shakers will provide a tough opponent.
Ryan Lowe’s side are currently fourth in the division following a promising start to their first campaign at this level since 2015.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Mellon said: “Saturday is massively important to us, we need to go there and try and get a positive result.
“Like every game that you play, it is tough. I keep telling them that, we have to perform at our max to get things in this division, to get results.
“Going to Bury will be different, it is always a tough place to go. It’s a bit of a derbyish type of occasion, even at this time of year we’ll take a good following with our allocation of tickets. It will be a good atmosphere.
“The principles of how we play has never changed, there will be principles that we will always stick to because it gives us the best opportunity of winning games and they will get us results.
“We have to make sure we will go there and give a good account of ourselves and represent the club properly, and they are the things we need to do to go and get results.”
The match at Bury on Saturday kicks-off a busy festive schedule of Sky Bet League Two action, with Rovers hosting Morecambe at Prenton Park on Boxing Day, followed by another home game with Yeovil Town on December 29 prior to a trip to Sol Campbell’s Macclesfield Town on New Year’s Day.
And the festive action is special to Mellon, with the Scot revealing that he is a fan of the busy schedule, as Tranmere aim to cement themselves in the promotion shake-up heading into the second half of the season in the New Year.
Currently eighth in the division, three points at Bury on Saturday coupled with results going their way could see Rovers move up as high as fourth in the standings, ahead of the bumper period of action.
On the festive schedule, Mellon added: “I like playing football at Christmas, I have never known any different even from a very, very young age, this is what I do. It is a different Christmas to a lot of the fans as we have to work as staff and players, but we still very much enjoy it.”
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