Tranmere Rovers manager Ronnie Moore hopes Liam Palmer will continue his loan spell at Prenton Park

Jan 3 2013 by Nick Hilton, The Liverpool Post

Tranmere Rovers manager Ronnie Moore hopes Liam Palmer will continue his loan spell at Prenton Park

THE signing of a contract 90 miles distant from Prenton Park this week may keep another piece of Tranmere’s promotion chasing jigsaw in place.

Manager Ronnie Moore hopes if and when Liam Palmer signs a deal tying him to Sheffield Wednesday for a further two years, the Owls will give the 21-year-old midfielder the go-ahead to extend his loan to Rovers until the end of this season.

Moore says Palmer has made an outstanding contribution to Tranmere’s climb to the top of the table, playing in all 26 games of the League One campaign so far.

The original loan agreement with Wednesday ran out after Palmer helped Rovers to a win at Bury on New Year’s Day, setting up the winning goal for Andy Robinson.

“Liam has been fantastic,” Moore said. “Hardly anyone talks about him. When James Wallace was playing in the side alongside Liam, everyone was talking about Wallace. Max Power came in after Wallace was injured and now everyone is talking about young Max.

“Palmer is just in the background but he does a great job. Hopefully he’s going to sign a new contract with Sheffield Wednesday this week. If that happens there is every chance he can come back here.”

Tranmere said goodbye to striker Jake Cassidy after the Bury game. Cassidy is returning to Wolves, who want to assess whether the 19-year-old striker can adapt his game to the demands of Championship football after scoring 11 goals for Rovers this season.

Moore remains hopeful Wolves will be prepared to return Cassidy to Prenton Park at the end of the January transfer window, if they decide the youngster’s development prospects are best served back at Prenton Park.

In the meantime Moore says he is on the lookout for another loan signing to replace Cassidy over the next month and is hopeful Bolton will extend Michael O’Halloran’s loan at Prenton Park into a second month.

The win over Bury gave Tranmere a maximum nine points from three games over the festive programme.

Moore said: “When we were beaten 5-0 at Swindon in the week before Christmas, lots of people thought our bubble would burst then. The lads showed tremendous character to bounce back with three wins.”

Moore says he wants his players to “go out and enjoy” the experience of playing against Championship side Derby in the FA Cup third round at Pride Park on Saturday.