Tranmere boss Nigel Adkins was clearly relieved after his side secured a 1-0 win over Sutton thanks to Rob Apter’s late strike.

Apter delighted the Prenton Park faithful following a run of four defeats in Rovers’ previous five matches.

Adkins said: “It’s the right result and it’s an important result, even if it did take us a long time to get there.

“Great credit to the players, though. We’ve had two really long journeys this week and you could see how the opposition are.

“They’ve got some big players and the goalkeeper likes to kick the ball the full length of the pitch.

“We have to compete, but we did that and we’ve got the result. Maybe I’d have liked the players to pass the ball a bit better and be better in possession, but again huge credit to the players because they’ve ground this one out.

“The application and the character shown by the players really pleased me overall. Sometimes it is fine margins – that’s the reality of it in this division.

“There are a lot of good things that we’ve done of late, and we have to make sure we keep plugging away because we’re not far away at all.”

After a largely uneventful first period, there was drama shortly after the restart when Rovers fluffed a penalty chance.

After Ryan Jackson had brought down Harvey Saunders in the box, Sutton keeper Steve Arnold turned hero as he brilliantly saved Connor Jennings’ spot-kick.

Both sides then went on to trade numerous chances, before Apter fired home the dramatic winner with time running out.

Sutton boss Steve Morison has won just one game since taking over the reins at the start of the year and his side remain six points from safety.

Morison said: “I’m just gutted for the players and the fans that travelled up here.

“We gave a decent account of ourselves I thought, and carried out our game-plan pretty well.

“We knew what we were going to be up against here, and I know I might sound like a broken record saying that I thought we performed well after losing one-nil.

“The lads need to find it within themselves to get over the line in games. We were excellent on Tuesday night, so it’s really frustrating that we haven’t been able to get something here today.

“If you don’t shoot you don’t score, or if you don’t buy a lottery ticket you don’t win – I’ve said that to the lads.

“Don’t worry I’m not asking them to pass the ball around the box and then don’t shoot.

“We just need to get to those areas and be free to put the ball in the back of the net and show no fear.”