ALDERSHOT TOWN 1

TRANMERE ROVERS 2

TRANMERE have a home tie with Wolves to look forward to in the new year after dashing Aldershot's FA Cup hopes at the EBB Stadium on Tuesday night.

The defensive strength that had earned them a fighting draw in the Wirral deserted Aldershot in the replay as the League One side finally pulled rank with goals either side of half-time.

Tranmere were second best to their League Two opponents for much of the first half. Indeed, they snatched the lead with their only shot on target.

After taking a 2-0 lead four minutes into the second half, the northerners played a canny game of defend and counter-attack – with a bit of time-wasting thrown in – and Oliver Bozanic's debut goal for Aldershot came only in injury time.

However, Aldershot were massing for an equaliser in menacing fashion, when an offside flag came to Tranmere's rescue.

"Apart from two errors, I thought we did ok," said manager Kevin Dillon. "In the end, Tranmere probably deserved to win. But if Oli had scored ten minutes earlier, we would have been right back in the game because we were putting them under a lot of pressure, especially when we went with two up front."

It's been a funny old season thus far for Tranmere who started the campaign with John Barnes as a high-profile manager and now have physio Les Parry in charge as caretaker boss.

He has steered Tranmere off bottom spot – they beat Brentford at the weekend – and now Rovers are through to the third round of the Cup, with a plum match against Mick McCarthy's Wolves in prospect.

Aldershot, unbeaten in eight matches at the start, had the chances to put real pressure on their opponents. Passes were difficult to judge on a surface made slick by steady drizzle and the few clear-cut openings fell to the home side.

On 20 minutes, Scott Donnelly set up Marvin Morgan who neatly turned his marker, only to shoot into the side-netting.

And Tranmere were dead lucky six minutes later when goalkeeper Luke Daniels completely missed a Donnelly free-kick. The ball came too quickly at Anthony Charles, lurking unmarked at the far post, and rebounded off the defender straight back into the arms of the grateful keeper.

Donnelly was behind all Aldershot's better moments and when he rolled an inviting pass into the path of Louie Soares, the midfielder struck a low shot that Daniels was happy to smother at the second attempt.

Having offered nothing in attack, Tranmere snatched the lead two minutes before half-time. Aldershot were caught out by a quickly taken free-kick as John Welsh picked out Ian Thomas-Moore on the right. His cross was cleared by Charles, but straight back to Thomas-Moore who, from a sharp angle, struck a tremendous 20-yard volley past Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz into the far corner.

Thomas-Moore, although no saint, is a creative player. Soon after half-time, it was his beautifully weighted ball that released Shaleum Logan down the right. The full-back's deep cross found Terry Gornell well beyond the far post and although his fierce shot looked to be from an impossible angle, the ball ricocheted off Ruiz' body into the net.

What a hammer blow that was. Tranmere were able to slow the game right up and repeatedly shepherded Aldershot's long balls back to Daniels. Then the counter-attack and Craig Curran should have wrapped it up for the visitors when, with others better placed in the middle, he went for glory and drove the ball against the goal stanchion.

Dillon sent on John Halls and later played John Grant alongside Morgan, but Tranmere's defence was sound. Marlon Jackson's 20-yard fizzer didn't miss by much and centre-back Chris Blackburn arrived in attack to have a goalbound shot blocked.

An Aldershot goal might have made it a very different game and Bozanic, two minutes after replacing Anthony Straker, had a glorious chance to reduce the deficit. Inevitably, it was Donnelly who set it up and the on-loan player seemed certain to score after forcing his way past Daniels, only to roll the ball agonisingly wide of a gaping goal.

Three minutes into injury time, Bozanic did get the ball in the net after a furious scramble resulting from Andy Sandell's long throw-in.

Tranmere, composure replaced by panic, were in disarray as Aldershot came again, but the flag went up, signalling the end of their Cup exploits for this season.

Now they have to concentrate on a trip to former Conference foes Burton Albion this weekend.

Aldershot: Jaimez-Ruiz, Herd, Straker (Bozanic 68), Blackburn, Charles, Soares, Chalmers (Halls 53), Morgan, Donnelly, Jackson (Grant 82), Sandell. Subs (not used): Winfield, Harding, Masters.

Tranmere: Daniels, Logan, Goodison, Broomes, Taylor, Bakayogo, Edds, Welsh (McLaren 77), Thomas-Moore, Gornell (Ricketts 82), Curran. Subs (not used): Cresswell, Collister, Barnett, Fraughan, Shuker. Booked: Daniels, Bakayogo, Gornell.

Referee: Graham Horwood.

Attendance: 4,016.