Micky Mellon sees nothing but beauty in the way that his players are currently performing, as Tranmere prepare for their biggest match of the season on Saturday.

The high-flying Birkenhead club will host run-away league leaders Forest Green Rovers at Prenton Park, with interest in the first versus second match-up now so high, a crowd in excess of 10,000 is expected to be in attendance.

A run of 10 matches without defeat has seen Tranmere grind out eight wins and concede only once in an impressive string of ultra-resilient performances.

But any suggestion that Rovers have been up against it in narrow contests has been dismissed by Mellon and that was once against the case today when it was put to him that last week’s away win at Crawley wasn’t pretty.

Speaking in his regular pre-match press conference, he said: “Well that’s your opinion, but if you’re asking my opinion… you can’t tell me how I think about a game, because I wouldn’t dare tell you.

“It was a fantastic performance, great win and we took a valuable three points. And if we play and get results like that until the end of the season, I’ll bite your hand off.”

The chord struck was similar to Rovers’ last home victory against Rochdale, when a dogged defensive team performance in the second half, reduced the visitors to just one clear-cut chance.

It is this type of steel that has elevated Mellon’s team to second in League Two and put them well on course for automatic promotion, something that the Scot is evidently proud of.

He said: “I understand football. I understand that sometimes people will want to see it played in a certain way. But I understand that beauty in football is getting a group of players together and finding a way of getting results.

“And then, if you can grow on that and make that into something that people will find attractive to watch, then that’s fine.

“But I’m telling you now, there will be a hell of a lot out there that watch football and loved the games at Crawley (and Rochdale) because the beauty in that is the desire, commitment and under the situation we had with Chid, because the players knew about it.

“To go out and put a performance in like that is beautiful. How can you say that’s not good? That’s great football because they’re showing great qualities there as a group of players.

“That’s what I mean when I speak about that.”

“The players are fighting really hard to get results at the moment and long may that continue.”

Mellon had appeared emotional after the match against Crawley, when he revealed that the club’s kit man ‘Chid’ has suffered a heart attack in the days leading up to the match.

But he had better news to report today and took a moment to shower praise on those who had helped his colleague in an emergency situation.

Speaking about Chid, Mellon said: “He’s doing really well. He’s got incredible strength of character. He’s over in Liverpool now getting a pace-maker fitted, so all good news.

“I never mentioned it the other day, but he was superbly well looked after by the ambulance drivers and the paramedics and the people at Arrowe Park. What a fantastic job they’ve done. Really terrific.

“They’re the real heroes here. Fantastic.”

“It was important that he got the best care possible and thankfully we can say that he’s on his way to recovery.

“If I’m annoyed or upset then I think you’ll know. I’ve been brought up that way and what you see is what you’ll get with me.

“That’s the way I’ll always be. We were tremendously upset with the news about Chid. It could have been much much worse but we’re grateful to the man above that he decided that it wasn’t his time.

“We’re delighted about that.”

It’s been a good week for Tranmere, with loan players Lee O’Connor and Josh Hawkes both signing permanent contracts with the club.

The two signings signify a clear departure from the trend to fill out a rebuilt squad with loan players and build for the future.

Mellon said: “It’s huge that we have our own players – short term and long term – so we kind of know where we’re going.

“It was difficult in the summer. We only had three or four players. I don’t think people appreciate that sometimes, how difficult it is to build an entire squad from that. But they were able to put something together that’s got us to January that’s given us fantastic football.

“Now we can try and bring people in permanently to try and keep building on the group, rather than starting a building job again.

“It shows that we believe this is the right way to go. We want a young squad full of ambition and leg power if we can.”

The Prenton Park boss conceded that he has some injury problems to contend with heading into the Forest Green clash.

Saturday may arrive too soon for centreback Tom Davies – who missed the Crawley match – but Nat Knight-Percival is back in full training.

Josh Hawkes returns to the club and is in contention for a start, but midfielder Liam Feeney has now left Prenton Park and been reunited with former Rovers boss Keith Hill at relegation-threatened Scunthorpe United.

Tranmere Rovers v Forest Green Rovers takes place on Saturday, January 29 at Prenton Park. Kick off 3pm.