Every underdog has his day

John Aldridge left himself little scope for future regrets at an unfulfilled or prematurely ended career when he retired 19 months ago at the age of 39, having scored an astonishing 357 goals in 672 league appearances.

But even a former player close to state retirement age would feel a stirring of the competitive urge at the two home games facing Aldridge's Tranmere in the next four days: against West Ham in the FA Cup today and against Middlesbrough in a League Cup quarterfinal on Tuesday. Ask Aldridge, now 41, if he will feel like walking all the way on to the pitch with his players rather than leaving them at the white line and he can only say: "Not half." The visit of West Ham puts an especially nostalgic whiff in Aldridge's nostrils as he reflects on seven years ago, the season after Tranmere paid a then club-record fee of £250,000 for him, when he scored a First Division hat-trick against the Hammers. "At the age of 34 it meant a lot to me to score three against a side as good as them; they went up that year. We were bombing ourselves at the time and felt invincible at home."

If only they had felt so invincible on away days they might well have joined West Ham in the Premiership. Instead they lost to Swindon in the semi-final play-off, the first of three successive seasons that they were to fail that way. Towards the end of the following season, when it was clear that the long-serving manager John King would not be able to whip his ageing charges up the hill again, Aldridge agreed to take over as player-manager, if not with the certainty that he would like it. "I always thought that I would like to give management a go and if I didn't like it or it didn't like me I would throw my hand in," he says. "Fortunately I have found that the good points outweigh the bad.

"The average age of the side was around 30 when I took over and it has taken me until now to get it down to 22. We've got a lot of potential but it is hard to compete with some of the other First Division clubs when you consider that Birmingham, for instance, have spent £23 million."

The only chance of that sort of money ever crossing the threshold of Prenton Park is if one of their staff wins a double rollover on the lottery. Simply drawing breath represents a successful season for Tranmere, who were saved from closure by a loan from Wirral Borough Council in 1982. The now much-hated Peter Johnson rescued them in March 1987 and two months later they saved themselves from league extinction by beating Exeter 1-0 on the final day of the season.

Now they are back in the English League's top division, if not exactly hammering on the door of the promised land, which they have never entered in their 105-year history. They were bottom two months ago and Aldridge was rehearsing his resignation speech when his side trailed 3-1 in the first half of a League Cup tie at Coventry, looking as though they were going to blow a 5-1 first-leg advantage.

His team hung on and Aldridge stayed on. That has always been the magic of any cup competition, one good 90 minutes restoring morale and belief and turning round a season. With Tranmere now 12th, Aldridge has finally signed a two-year extension to his contract.

He trots out the managerial mantra about league results being paramount, but he is as excited as the club's fans and bank manager about the next few days. "West Ham and Middlesbrough are both high-quality teams," Aldridge says. "But in cup games things happen that shouldn't happen." In the FA Cup every underdog can hope to have his day, particularly with Tranmere's striker Wayne Allison scoring at an Aldridge-style rate; he has managed eight goals in 16 matches since moving from Huddersfield for £350,000. The defender Dave Challinor will be trying to find him with his 46-metre throw-ins which have earned him a place in the Guinness Book Of Records.

The Middlesbrough game must be decided on the night so Aldridge organised penalty practice this week, which no doubt prompted recollections that he became the first player to miss a spot-kick in a Wembley cup final when he fluffed one for Liverpool against Wimbledon in 1988.

"I got over it", he says, "and things like that make you a stronger person. I used to like to have a little trick up my sleeve but it didn't work that day." He continued to take penalties when he moved to Tranmere and it looked like a fitting end to his career when he scored one in his final game against Wolves in May 1998. But when Wolves equalised, his competitive instinct took over and he spoiled it by scoring the winner.