Tranmere . . . . . 3, Stoke City . . . . 1

Attendance: 8,009

PLAYER-manager John Aldridge scored again as he helped Rovers to brush aside Stoke City.

Superb Rovers outplayed Stoke and could have scored six. Lee Jones, who headed Tranmere into a ninth minute lead with his ninth goal of the season, could have netted four. Referee Graham Laws left Aldridge scratching his head in bemusement.

Rovers appealed in vain for a penalty after a blatant foul by Stoke goalkeeper Carl Muggleton on David Kelly, who, astonishingly, was booked for protesting!

Then, just past the half hour, Mr Laws awarded Stoke what can only be termed a highly dubious penalty. Andy Thompson was adjudged to have pushed Paul Stewart in the penalty area and Graham Kavanagh scored from the spot-kick.

In the 66th minute, Aldridge headed a sublime second goal when he connected with Kenny Irons' pinpoint cross. Midfielder Liam O'Brien put the icing on the cake with a bullet of a shot in the 87th minute - his second goal of the season.

Tranmere: Simonsen, Stevens, Thompson, McGreal (sub Morrissey, 45 mins), Thorn, Irons, Mellon, Aldridge (sub G. Jones, 72 mins), Kelly, O'Brien, L. Jones (sub Mahon, 86 mins).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.