'Gutted' Micky Mellon urges Tranmere Rovers to keep working hard as they search for first point of the season

Riley Harbottle’s second-half header proved to be the difference between the two sides as Rovers slipped to their second straight defeat.

But while Mellon admitted he was gutted for his players he was pleased with the efforts shown.

“I can’t fault the lads for their effort and running power,” he said.

“We had a good go and were competitive. There were moments when we can still do better with the ball and we are nowhere near where we want to get to.

“We can do better but there are plenty more positives to take this week. I’m gutted for the players, I think we started the second half as the better team, we had a 15 minute spell where we couldn’t quite convert but then we didn’t really create anything.

“To lose another goal to a set-piece is not good enough, we can’t be losing goals from set pieces. To lose the goal how we did was a sore one.

“We kicked on and huffed and puffed and got behind them

“If we had had a bit more quality or fortune it could have gone our way.”

Upbeat Mellon now wants to see his side keep working hard to turn their poor start around.

“The players kept going and we have to keep our heads up and keep banging away at it,” he said.

“Paul Lewis had a great chance at the end. He did really well. There were a lot of decent performances but we understand that we have to keep improving and we will work hard to keep improving.

“The fight was there and we showed that we have the quality to get results.

“We have to build on it, keep working hard and it will come.”

Read the match report and Nigel Clough reaction here.