Moore: Henry’s red was harsh

Jul 30 2008 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

TRANMERE made the worst possible start to cleaning up their disciplinary act for the new campaign by having a man sent off in a pre-season friendly.

Paul Henry’s dismissal in the last minute of the 2-1 win at Morecambe on Saturday is likely to cost the 19-year-old midfielder a three-match suspension.

But Rovers boss Ronnie Moore believes Premier League referee Lee Mason may have been “a little harsh” in raising a red card to Henry for his injury-time challenge on Morecambe midfielder David Artell.

He argued that the tackle was accidental rather than malicious, but Moore acknowledged that Mason was operating by the book.

He said: “I was disappointed about the sending-off. Paul mis-controlled the ball and I don’t think there was any malice in the tackle. It was a little harsh, I thought but the referee may have been thinking that there was an assessor looking at him.

“He is a Premier League referee now and it’s a case of doing everything by the book.

Tranmere paid a heavy price in suspensions and points lost for the seven red cards they picked up last season.

They are still paying that price because skipper Ian Goodison misses the first two games of the new campaign while he serves a ban for his dismissal at Northampton in May.

Moore added: “We are talking about our disciplinary record needing to improve and we’ve got a straight red before we played competitive game.”

But there were more than enough bright aspects to Tranmere’s fourth pre-season win in a row to keep Moore in positive mood.

The manager was particularly pleased by the way his players are adapting to a new 4-3-3 formation.

Moore said: “I thought our first-half performance was very good. The movement and passing were good, our use of the ball was good. Everyone is settling into the system and that is pleasing.”

Tranmere notched two strikes in the first half through Craig Curran and trialist Charlie Barnett.

They were less dangerous after the break when Morecambe pulled a goal back through Renee Howe.

Moore added: “Morecambe changed the system at half-time to match us up with 4-3-3 and we found it more difficult to get players on the ball.

“We’re going to come up against this in League games and we have to learn to cope with it.”