Tranmere Rovers picked up a hard fought point on the road against Colchester United on Saturday afternoon.
Harvey Saunders’ early goal was cancelled out by Noah Chilvers’ second half penalty to ensure that the spoils were shared in Essex.
Rovers started off in a positive fashion as Joel Mumbongo combined with Harvey Saunders before the latter had a low shot saved inside the box.
The home side fired some early warning signs of their own when Joe Murphy reacted well to tip Tovide’s low shot around his post.
It wasn’t long before Tranmere opened the scoring at the JobServe Community Stadium. On the 12th minute, Harvey Saunders latched onto a precise ball in behind by Josh Hawkes before rounding O’Hara and smashing the ball into an empty net to grab his first goal since in a Rovers shirt.
Tranmere went close to doubling their lead when Chris Merrie met Rhys Hughes’ front post corner which forced O’Hara to save sharply down to his right hand side.
Colchester had a glorious opportunity to restore parity just after the half hour when Tom Hopper reacted quickly to a deflected cross but he somehow diverted his snapshot off target from close range.
Hopper had another chance to test Joe Murphy again when Rovers lost the ball on the edge of their own box but the big striker couldn’t keep his effort down and on target.
It was a slower start to the second period from both sides and it took until the 55th for a chance of note. Joel Mumbongo unleashed a powerful strike from 25 yards which stayed hit but whistled past the post.
Just past the hour mark, the home side won a penalty. A long ball into the box resulted in Josh Dacres-Cogley and Tom Hopper going to ground after a tussle and the referee pointed to the spot. Noah Chilvers stepped up and despite Murphy getting a hand to it, equalised for the U’s.
With ten minutes left on the clock, a cross from Dacres-Cogley fell kindly for Lee O’Connor at the far post but his left footed strike was parried away by O’Hara.
Freddie Sears had a good sight of goal in the closing stages but his volley didn’t have the connection he would have liked and Murphy gratefully gathered.
With seven minutes added on, both sides looked liked they could grab a winner. Regan Hendry drove forward with the ball before threading a pass to Jake Burton who could only find the sitting netting with his shot.
The referee sounded his whistle and both sides were forced to settle for a point each which, on the balance of play, was a fair result.
Tranmere team: Murphy, Dacres-Cogley, Davies, Turnbull, Bristow, Merrie, Hughes (O’Connor 45’), Hendry, Hawkes (Turner-Cooke 71’), Mumbongo (Burton 77’), Saunders (Chalmers 90’)
Unused subs: Hewelt, Hoti, Taylor