Tranmere boss Micky Mellon was delighted with the way his side bounced back from their heavy defeat by leaders Forest Green with a gutsy 1-0 League Two win against Stevenage.

Kieron Morris fired home the only goal to secure Rovers’ ninth win in 11 league games as they responded perfectly to Saturday’s 4-0 home thumping by Forest Green.

Mellon said: “That was a really important win for us.

“I had a feeling beforehand that the whole place knew this was a big game for us after what happened at the weekend.

“Before the game I just told the players to remember just how well we’re doing.

“We’re still second in the table, so we’ve got to embrace the situation we’re in.

“It was a body blow for us at the weekend, but tonight we’ve come back with a big win and a clean sheet.

“We just have to keep going.

“We needed the crowd to be right behind us tonight and they absolutely were.

“They were terrific for us all night.

“This was a valuable three points secured against a good Paul Tisdale team who were in decent form.

“I was delighted to see the tremendous spirit and togetherness all the lads showed to go out and get the result.”

It proved to be a rather uninspiring first-half performance from both sides.

Paul Glatzel went closest for Rovers when denied by goalkeeper Christy Pym, while opposite number Ross Doohan also excelled in keeping out Jake Taylor’s angled strike.

Rovers struck shortly after break when Morris fired the ball home from 20 yards and by full-time, they had hung on rather comfortably as they condemned Paul Tisdale’s Stevenage to a first defeat in six games.

Tisdale said: “I’m really disappointed, naturally.

“I was pleased with the efforts of all the lads, though.

“We did well enough, but I just can’t quite put my finger on what’s gone wrong for us tonight.

“I thought at half-time we had a real chance of getting a result. We’d grown into the game and were showing a good collective attitude.

“There’s never a good time to concede a goal, though, and it did come at a bad time for us.

“It is difficult for us with a long trip on a Tuesday night.

“We were missing one or two and we were maybe one substitution light.

“We haven’t won an away game for a while, but we are getting closer.

“There were a lot of positives for us to take from the game.

“Don’t forget Tranmere are a really good side and I thought they responded well to their blip at the weekend.”