Tranmere interim head coach Andy Crosby rounded off an impressive audition for the permanent job with a thumping 4-1 away win over 10-man Newport on the final day.
Tranmere secured their League Two safety last week and they leapfrogged their opponents and Accrington to seal a 20th-place finish thanks to a superb second-half performance at Rodney Parade.
County, who had Kai Whitmore sent off for a hand to the face of Jake Garrett in the 66th minute, started brightly and deservedly led through Shane McLoughlin’s 23rd-minute opener.
But Garrett levelled four minutes before the break with a heavily-deflected effort from distance and the visitors never looked back.
Kristian Dennis fired into the bottom corner three minutes after the restart.
And, four minutes after Whitmore’s second yellow, Omari Patrick beat Nick Townsend with a long-range effort to wrap up the points.
Josh Davison, who added a fresh dimension to the visitors’ attack after coming on as a half-time substitute, then got the goal his display merited when he headed in Josh Hawkes’ cross 12 minutes from time to rub further salt in the Exiles’ wounds.
“I thought the effort and the commitment and the togetherness of the group over 13 games and achieving our goal last week was always going to play a part in our performance today,” said Crosby.
“We were quite sluggish to start off with, but the response from the players in the second half is a massive credit to them.
“For the final 45 minutes of the season in the 46th game, to produce that quality, I could not be prouder of them.”
“I’m proud of what we’ve managed to achieve in the last quarter of the season,” added the former Port Vale boss, who is keen to stay in charge at Prenton Park next term.
“I’ve absolutely loved my time at the football club. We’ve done the task we set out to do and I can say I did a good job, so we’ll see what happens.”
In the battle of the interim head coaches, there were very different emotions for Crosby’s counterpart Dafydd Williams as his side dropped to 22nd.
“We were excellent for 25 minutes but after the goal we went back into default mode,” said Williams, who stepped up from assistant to replace Nelson Jardim for the final two games of the season.
“We were so naive, soft, and that second half summed up our season. It was immature, naive and just not good enough.
“We’ve finished in a position we deserve to and that has to be a reality check for those that are still here next year. A lot needs to change to go forward as a club.”
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