TRANMERE Rovers beat Stockport County 2-0 to join the Hatters in the knockout stages of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

In front of a crowd of 2,836 at Edgerley Park, Rovers took the lead in the 21st minute when Kristian Dennis ran on to a through ball from Tom Davies to score against his former club.

Tranmere doubled their lead six minutes before half time when Connor Jennings squared from the right for Josh Hawkes to tap in from close range.

The second half saw Rovers ring the changes and the visitors were indebted to veteran keeper Joe Murphy who made a number of outstanding saves and ensure Tranmere progress to the last 32. 

Tranmere manager Nigel Adkins said: "The objective was to win the game and we've done that we've a clean sheet and a couple of really good saves from Joe Murphy at the end.

"I thought we played some really good football and Declan Drysdale got 45 minutes and I thought he looked really good at the back.

"We made a couple of changes at half time and I can't speak highly enough of Connor Jennings and Kristian Dennis was superb. 

"From my point of view thee was some really good football and a good defensive shape and we nullified what they did and passed the ball well.

"The squad all got valuable playing time and we backed up a good win at the weekend to get ourselves out of the group stages and into the knockout stages."