Crewe Alex: Shuker goal sinks Holland's men
But with last night's Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie heading inexorably towards a spot-kick shoot-out, it was the diminutive winger who fired the decisive bullet when his heavily deflected shot flew past Steve Collis for the only goal of the second-round tie.
It was, perhaps, a cruel finish considering how effectively Steve Holland's side had dominated early on. But they failed to make their superiority count and Tranmere stepped up a couple of gears on the re-start and were heaping the pressure on Collis's box.
The Alex coach threw on Anthony Elding and the fit-again Clayton Donaldson specifically with the penalties in mind, but they weren't needed.
Yet his side had responded strongly to their dismal weekend showing against Northampton and could have been a couple of goals to the good at the interval.
Calvin Zola, Shaun Miller and Steve Schumacher all came into a side which bossed possession with some of their best football for weeks in a one-sided first half.
But Zola should have done better when he was presented with a juicy shooting chance inside the home area as early as the eighth minute. When Mark Carrington lofted the ball forward, the big striker failed to get the ball from under his feet and his shot lacked venom as it went straight at Danny Coyne.
However, the Welsh keeper was stranded soon after and needed Stoke loanee Ryan Shotton to clear the ball off the line after Dennis Lawrence had attacked Billy Jones's flag-kick with a powerful header, which was looping under the bar.
And as Rovers tried to desperately clear their lines, it appeared they were fortunate to survive penalty appeals when Danny O'Donnell went down.
Despite his miss, Zola was a useful fulcrum for early Alex attacks and he set up his partner Tom Pope twice in dangerous positions. On the second occasion, Pope made the most of it with some great skill to flick the ball over a defender's leg and crack a thumping drive against the outside of the post.
Michael O'Connor, rising to the occasion again as captain, also went close with a 25-yard effort which flew just past the post.
Tranmere – who had former Crewe trialist Bas Savage up front – hardly created a thing against some careful defending.
Steve Jennings volleyed over in the first minute and Antony Kay cracked one wide.
But it wasn't until half-time approached that Crewe were forced to perspire as Ian Moore got free on the right and set up Kay for a header which flew inches over.
Yet they were sweating at regular intervals after the re-start as Tranmere got the ball forward much quicker and reaped the benefits of well-rehearsed set-plays, including Shotton's "Delap-like" long throw.
The Alex survived a real scare a minute into the half when Andy Taylor's in-swinging corner was flicked on to the near post by Ben Chorley and was somehow scrambled clear of the goal-line by O'Donnell.
Then Chris Greenacre, latching on to a high ball, turned O'Donnell, but his shot was deflected across the face of goal.
And on the hour mark the offside flag helped Crewe out after they had allowed Edrissa Sonko to slip in on the left of the box.
Chorley then glanced Taylor's corner wide as Tranmere maintained their second-half ascendancy.
Miller's lively first-half approach work hadn't been matched by a finish. And when the left winger emerged from his shell in the second, his weak effort into Coyne's hands, after he had done the spadework by cutting across his man, summed up his problems.
It was a rare moment of penetration for Crewe and they were indebted to Collis soon after for keeping out Kay's fierce drive.
Tranmere got even closer to breaking the stalemate when Ian Moore flicked Taylor's cross across the face of goal with a deft touch.
Eugen Bopp was drafted on for youngster Carrington, who had disappeared from view, and the German flashed an effort which missed the far post by as much as Moore's after he had latched on to a short corner from Jones.
O'Connor then pulled a shot wide after Lawrence made his presence felt on the end of a long free-kick. But Rovers were edging closer to the kill and Savage came close to making Shotton's cross count with a flying header.
The Alex were looking increasingly vulnerable, yet it was with the assistance of a significant deflection off O'Connor that substitute Shuker's 20-yard drive beat Collis for the winner with four minutes left.
MATCH STATS
Tranmere Rovers 1 (Shucker, 86)
Crewe Alex 0
Goal Attempts: Tranmere 19 (4 on target); Crewe 9 (5 on target)
The Referee: Carl Boyeson (Yorkshire) 6
Yellow cards: Tranmere: None. Crewe: None. Red cards: None.
Entertainment: 6
Attendance: 2,626.
PLAYER RATINGS
COLLIS: Unlucky to be beaten by a late, deflected effort. 7
WOODARDS: He kept Sonko's threat fairly much in check. 7
JONES: Put in some decent deliveries, but had his work cut out by the marauding Moore. 6
O'DONNELL: Headed out most of what was thrown in Savage's direction. 7
LAWRENCE: Endured the odd hairy moment and caused trouble at the other end. 6
CARRINGTON: Faded completely after showing something in the first half. 5
O'CONNOR: Kept on battling and he cracked in a few decent shots at goal. 7
SCHUMACHER: Like Carrington, he faded from the picture as Crewe's second-half display died a death. 6
MILLER: Looked a threat in the first 45, although without an end product. 6
POPE: Hit the post in the first half when he looked dangerous. 7
ZOLA: Missed a decent first-half chance and faded away. 6
SUBSTITUTES
BOPP (Carrington, 76): Came close with an angled waf. 6
ELDING (Zola, 83): Too late to make impact.
DONALDSON O'Donnell, 89): Thrown on for a potential penalty shoot-out.
Not used: 30 Brayford, 21 Tomlinson.
TRANMERE: 1 Coyne, 26 Shotton, 3 Taylor, 4 Chorley, 5 Goodison, 9 Moore, 6 Kay, 12 Jennings (13 Edds, 76), 16 Sonko (23 Shuker, 76), 7 Savage, 10 Greenacre. Not used: 2 Antwi, 8 O'Callaghan, 24 Achterberg.
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