Jake Cassidy insists Tranmere can make the play-offs this season

Sep 6 2012 The Liverpool Post

JAKE CASSIDY isn’t afraid to use the “P” words when he talks about what the season might hold in store for Tranmere.

The 19-year-old striker sees Rovers sitting at the top of the League One table and declares his ambition to help keep the team in the promotion frame through to the campaign finish.

“We want to push on for promotion from here and I think we have a good chance,” he said.

Cassidy broke his scoring duck for the season with a clinically executed hat-trick in Tranmere’s 4-0 home win over Colchester United last Saturday and aims to help his teammates deliver another success at Crewe Alexandra this weekend.

While manager Ronnie Moore and his staff choose their words carefully, pointing out there are no prizes for being top of the table after four games, Cassidy sees no reason to hold his optimism in check.

He said: “Getting into the play-offs and challenging for promotion is the buzz in the dressing room. If there is no ambition, there’s no point in playing.”

Cassidy is on an extended loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers that runs until the turn of the year. The arrangement serves as a reminder that Tranmere operate with one of the lowest budgets in League One.

They could not afford to sign a player of such exciting potential from a larger, wealthier club. But they can offer young prospects the opportunity to gain valuable first-team experience.

Cassidy showed he has the skills of a natural finisher when notching five goals in 10 games during a loan spell with Tranmere towards end of last season.

He was a little slow in finding that from at the start of this season, partly because he was short of match practice with Wolves prior to rejoining Rovers.

Cassidy said: “Coming here last season was brilliant. Getting the first-team games was what I needed and the fans took to me as well. This summer I played only three games in pre-season for Wolves and just two of them were starts.

“And reserve team football and League One football are very different.

“Coming back here I have been trying to get fit and hopefully the goals will start to come again.”

The Tranmere team that started the season is a little different in character and make-up to the one that finished the 2011/12 campaign.

Moore injected additional pace and energy into the side with summer signings such as Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, Abdulai Bell-Baggie and Joe Thompson while holding on to key players from last season such as Andy Robinson and James Wallace.

Cassidy said: “We are playing a different style and trying to play from the back. The passing has been brilliant at times. The more we play this way the better we are going to be.

“Jean-Louis has lots of pace and it’s good to play with him. You can play the ball into channels and you know he’s going to be there.”

Cassidy’s game looks to be benefiting from the advice provided by Moore, a prolific striker in his own playing days during the 1970s and 80s.

Moore said: “Jake needed those goals (against Colchester) and he’s worked hard enough for them. It was a matter of getting him into the right areas.

“He was doing a lot of his work outside the penalty area. We’ve encouraged him to stay in the box a little bit more because when he’s in the right areas he will score goals. There’s more to come from Jake.”

Moore revealed that Cassidy had done work on putting himself in front of his marker for crosses to the near post - and that’s just how we notched his first and third goals against Colchester.

“Jake had been a little bit off his best for a couple of weeks,” Moore said. “We did some work on the training ground on getting him across defenders at the near post and he did that to good effect.”

Cassidyis due to join the Wales under-21 squad for a game in the Czech Republic next Monday.