Lee O’Connor insists confidence is growing within the Tranmere team as he praised the performance of Corey Blackett-Taylor in Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup first-round win over Accrington Stanley.
Opening the scoring at Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon, Blackett-Taylor drove at the Accrington defence before finding the bottom corner with an emphatic strike- a goal which came as no surprise to O’Connor.
“I’ve played against Corey back in my Academy days, so I know what he is capable of,” expressed the Republic of Ireland international. “He is a great asset to have and I’m sure everyone is happy to get him back.
“He adds different dimensions to our team and something, maybe, that we’ve been lacking without him. To have him back is a great asset for us.
“If you ask any defender, the one thing you don’t want a winger to have is pace and Corey has a lot of that. As a defender, it makes your job very difficult.”
Equally as pleased to be in the hat for the second-round of the FA Cup, the 20-year-old said: “I think we deserved it. Towards the end, we played good football. With them being in the league above, we had something to prove.
“We were a bit disappointed at half-time for it to be 1-1. I think we had the better of the first-half, but you concede goals sometimes. I think it showed what we’re building as a group, that we didn’t get disheartened by it."
Asked whether confidence is on the up within the group, O’Connor added: “All throughout the week after the Harrogate game, we’ve been speaking about consistency- something we’ve been lacking. Hopefully we can get a good run going now and keep it going.”