Tranmere Rovers were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first-round stage after a 3-0 home defeat to Hull City at Prenton Park on Tuesday night.
TRFC were two goals down inside the opening six minutes of the tie, with Jon Toral and David Milinkovic getting early strikes for Grant McCann’s visitors from East Yorkshire.
Defender Ryan Tafazolli powered in a close-range header on the stroke of half-time following Milinkovic’s pinpoint corner from the right to increase the Sky Bet Championship outfit’s advantage.
Manager Micky Mellon made the one change to his starting XI from Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth as Corey Blackett-Taylor replaced Connor Jennings in the line-up.
Hull were in front within the opening minute when Toral met Brandon Fleming’s deep cross from the left to head past Davies and into the bottom right-corner from six-yards.
The Tigers’ scored their second of the game after six minutes when play dropped to Milinkovic who drew a low save from Davies before the loose ball rebounded off attacker which found the bottom left corner.
In response, Rovers forward Blackett-Taylor beat three Hull defenders to cut inside from the left, shooting straight at goalkeeper Matthew Ingram who was forced to push away the effort.
But Tafazolli netted Hull’s third in the closing moments of the opening half when he glanced Milinkovic’s delivery past Davies from close-range.
After play resumed for the second-half on the Wirral, Tranmere looked to get themselves back into the contest and went close within three minutes of the restart.
Blackett-Taylor picked up the ball in space, 30-yards from goal, to thump a drive that crashed off the crossbar, beating Ingram, only to see Kieron Morris drag the resulting follow up wide of the near post.
Ollie Banks later saw his attempt miss the target while the lively Blackett-Taylor caused Hull issues down the left, driving into the box to drill left-footed into the side-netting.
With over an hour played, Mellon made his first two substitutes of the night with Paul Mullin replacing Morgan Ferrier and Connor Jennings coming on for Darren Potter.
And Mullin so nearly made an immediate impact, receiving a pass on the left-edge of the box to bend right-footed which forced Ingram to tip away, while Morris and Jennings had their shots blocked on the rebound.
In the final 15 minutes, midfielder Morris was presented with space 20-yards from goal but could only send his strike over Ingram’s crossbar.
Jennings’ teasing cross from the right then found Liam Ridehalgh at the back post but from six-yards out, the left-back could only head the ball into the ground to kiss the base of the post.
Despite a spirited second-half performance in front of the SWA, Rovers couldn’t find a way back into the fixture.
Attention now turns to Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon as Tranmere host Bolton Wanderers in Sky Bet League One, kick-off 3pm.
TRFC: Davies ©, Wilson, Monthe, Ray, Ridehalgh, Morris, Potter (Jennings 62) Perkins, Blackett-Taylor (Ponticelli 80) Banks, Ferrier (Mullin 62)
Subs not used: Pilling, Nelson, Gilmour, Payne
Attendance: 3,421