Reds crash to Rovers defeat

Rodolfo Borrell's youngsters went into the game buoyed by an impressive success over Birmingham City but found the going tough in a keenly contested encounter at Prenton Park.

The hosts are putting the finishing touches to their plans for a League One campaign that gets underway against Chesterfield on Saturday and they deservedly took the spoils thanks to goals from David Buchanen and Mustafa Tiryaki.

It means Borrell will be eager to fine tune his team in their final friendly clash with Manchester City next week, ahead of the NextGen Series opener against Sporting Lisbon at Anfield.

It had looked like it would all go to plan for the visitors in the early stages and David Amoo's rasping drive inside 60 seconds suggested Owain Fon Williams was in for a busy evening in the Rovers goal.

However, the home team would go on to completely dominate the proceedings and the Welshman would be a virtual spectator for much of the match.

Les Parry's charges were clearly refusing to be overawed by their opponents and on 10 minutes Adam McGurk forced Brad Jones to make a superb save after turning Philipp Degen inside out on the left flank.

Next Andy Robinson tried his luck with a snap shot that seared over the top before Robbie Weir threatened the visiting support with a wayward strike into the crowd.

As the interval approached Liverpool seemed to have completely lost their way and on 36 minutes they were made to pay.

Martin Devaney skipped down the right and sent a cross towards the far post that Wisdom could only half clear into the path of Buchanen.

The left-back took one touch before sizzling an unstoppable strike into the top corner, leaving Jones with no chance.

It was the perfect start for the former Bury man, who signed in at Prenton Park just last week.

The goal did little to spark Liverpool into life and just two minutes later they were almost two behind.

McGurk found acres of space on the left and cut the ball across goal for former red, David Raven, who could only watch on as Jones produced a miraculous save from point blank range.

At this point Borrell would have been eager to get his players in for the half-time team talk and he was breathing a huge sigh of relief on 40 minutes when Robinson's audacious 35 yard lob dropped just over the crossbar.

The Reds were at sixes and sevens at the back and somehow made it into the interval trailing by just the one goal, thanks in no small part to a miss of the pre-season contender from McGurk.

Devaney again caused problems down the flank and whipped across a teasing centre that the left winger contrived to head over the top after Jones had completely misjudged the flight of the ball.

A marked improvement was the order of the day following the restart but again it was Rovers who created the better openings.

Tiryaki broke the offside track and raced towards goal only for Jones to produce another excellent stop.

The writing was on the wall for the Reds and it was no surprise when a hungry Rovers side doubled their advantage on 56 minutes.

Suso was the guilty party, needlessly dwelling on the ball deep in his own half, allowing substitute Josh Labadie to seize upon possession and bear down on Jones.

The Australian 'keeper managed to block the first effort but could only watch on as Tiryaki arrived to stab the ball into an empty net.

Liverpool had rarely entered the Tranmere half but almost clawed a goal back when Emiliano Insua brought the best out of Williams with a thumping shot from distance.

The Reds were trying to step it up a gear and Amoo was unlucky to see his fierce drive flash just over after a dazzling run had seen him cut in from the left.

With time running out Nathan Eccleston and substitute Toni Silva both saw efforts well saved but it was not enough to deny the home team a deserved win.

Liverpool Reserves: Jones, Degen (Mendy 70), Insua, Wisdom, Ayala, Coady, El Zhar (Silva 57), Suso, Eccleston, Adorjan (Roddan 61), Amoo. Unused subs: McGiveron, Stephens, Hajdu, Roberts, Emilsson, Belford.