Tranmere Rovers...........0

Boreham Wood..............2

By Richard Garnett

Tranmere’s unbeaten start to the National League season ended at Prenton Park when second half goals from Graeme Montgomery and Harry Crawford handed Boreham Wood a deserved victory.

Disappointed manager Gary Brabin said the result brought Rovers "crashing back down to earth with a bang."

The visitors took the lead just before the hour mark when Rovers failed to deal with a routine cross from Ben Nunn. Montgomery collected the ball inside the penalty area and smashed it past Scott Davies into the net.

Deep in stoppage time, Tranmere’s misery was compounded when substitute Crawford broke free in the penalty area and stroked the ball past Davies sending the visitors’ 76 travelling fans delirious.

It was a rude awakening for Rovers who could have no complaints about the score line having been second best for most of the 90 minutes.

Michael Ihiekwe tried his luck in the 17th minute, but his left foot curler was palmed away by Preston Edwards in the Boreham Wood goal.

Andy Mangan worked himself a shooting opportunity on 25 minutes but saw his shot blocked by Boreham centre back Scott Doe.

Rovers struggled to find any real rhythm in the first half, squandering possession regularly and allowing their supposedly inferior opponents a comfortable ride.

The hosts returned after the break with a bit more purpose and an in-swinger from Liam Ridehalgh was met by the head of Martin Riley on 50 minutes, forcing a smart save out of Edwards.

Gary Brabin had seen enough however and decided to hand on loan Nathan Blissett – nephew of Luther Blissett – his debut, replacing Lois Maynard in the 55th minute.

His only significant involvement however was to flatten Boreham Wood defender Doe in an aerial duel moments after coming on.

Tranmere were made to pay when Montgomary profited from slack defending just before the hour mark with a sweet left foot strike.

Brabin introduced Adam Mekki with 20 minutes to play but it made little difference as the visitors wrapped up the win in stoppage time through substitute Crawford, leaving Rovers to reflect on a fair first defeat of the season.

The manager said: "We’ve come crashing back down to earth with a bang.

"Obviously I’m disappointed but that’s an example of what we’re going to be up against in a lot of home games this season.

"You’re going to get teams coming and trying to frustrate us, time wasting, trying to catch us on the break.

"We didn’t deserve to win the game today, I’m not going to hide behind that.

"At best we deserved a draw but we’ve gone chasing the game and we’ve fallen for two sucker-punches.

"I was disappointed with a lot of aspects today but at half time we were disappointed with the amount of second balls they were picking up in midfield, which hasn’t happened to us (previously). We’ve looked quite strong there.

"I thought we started the game bright with good play but in the end we were getting frustrated with ourselves because we weren’t doing stuff and by the end of the game we were just punting it up field, chasing a point and that’s always a disappointment.

"We were disappointed with some of the decisions. The under dog always seems to get the 50/50s.

"It’s early days but we need to learn from that very quickly. We're not ready.

"I’m not saying I was expecting that because I wasn’t - but that shows me how not ready we are."

Match stats:

Tranmere Rovers: 0

Boreham Wood: 2 Montgomery 58 Crawford 90

Half time: 0-0

Star man: Scott Doe (Boreham Wood)

Attendance: 4,832

Entertainment: 2/5

Ref rating: Michael Salisbury (8/10)

Tranmere (4-4-2): Davies player rating 6; Ihiekwe 6, Sutton 6, Riley 6, Hill 5; Maynard 5 (Blissett 55, 5), Jennings 5, Harris 7, Ridehalgh 5; Mangan 6; Margetts 6 (Mekki 71, 6).

Subs not used: Turner, Holness, Stockton

Boreham Wood (4-5-1): Edwards player rating 8; Nunn 7, Reynolds 8, Doe 9, Woodards 7; Shakes 6, Cox 7, Clifford 6, Montgomery 7, Howell 6 (Whichelow 79, 6), Lucas 5 (Crawford 25, 7).

Subs not used: Russell, Hill, Morias

Next game: Altrincham away, Saturday, August 29. Kick-off: 3pm.