An away trip to Fleetwood resulted in a 6-0 defeat for Tranmere Rovers Under 18s.
The young Whites failed to get going in a match which saw them go behind after just nine minutes.
Andy Parkinson’s side were unable to recover after conceding early as they went on to concede another five goals against the category two academy team.
Tranmere had a bright start initially as Ryan Stratulis forced Fleetwood keeper Scott Pengelly into a save from distance after just five minutes.
However, that would soon change when Cian Hayes produced some clever footwork in the box before being brought down by Tranmere captain Kyle Hayde and the referee showed no hesitation in awarding the home side a penalty.
Kian Makepeace slotted the ball into the bottom right corner from the spot to open the scoring.
Fleetwood looked to widen the margin immediately as Hayes and Makepeace caused Ben Jones to make a series of fine saves before Carl Johnston rounded off some great team play on the edge of the box as his volley found the bottom corner.
The Tranmere heads seemed to drop after the second goal as they failed to create any more chances before half time. The same could not be said for Fleetwood as they continued to apply pressure and were rewarded for their efforts just before the half as Joe Collins danced through the box and showed great composure as he fired home to make it 3-0.
At the beginning of the second half, the home side started where they left off in the first half as they increased their lead to 4-0 after some sloppy defending presented Anthony Williams with an open goal.
The Whites looked to grab a goal back straight away but their calls for a penalty due to what looked to be a hand ball were waved away by the Referee in what was a questionable decision.
The score line did not do Jones justice as he pulled off another fine save on 64 minutes but was not helped by his defence as Makepeace had an easy finish to grab his second goal of the game and increase the lead to 5-0.
With both sides making changes, Tranmere were unable to create any meaningful chances to grab a consolation goal, but the home side’s subs Ben Thompson and Enoch Takpe combined to grab their sixth and final goal of the game with both sides failing to create scoring opportunities in the remainder of the game
Rovers will look to bounce back from this tough defeat in their next game at home to Salford City Under 18s on Saturday 4th January.
Report by: Daniel Paul Noble