TRANMERE’S chairman was left with mixed emotions after seeing Rovers run out 5-0 winners over troubled Wanderers at Prenton Park on Saturday.

Phil Parkinson was again forced to patch up a young side for the trip to Merseyside and saw them brushed aside by Micky Mellon’s men in emphatic fashion.

It left the Bolton boss to express real concerns about the welfare of his teenagers post-match and Mark Palios, the former Football Association chief executive who has been Rovers owner since 2014, admitted it was a bittersweet first victory for the club on their return to the third tier. 

The 66-year-old called for a swift resolution to the Whites’ problems and praised the near 2,000 travelling fans who again backed their side in impressive numbers despite the on-going problems off the field.

“The result today is soured with a sadness for the situation in which we find an old football club,” Palios posted on Twitter.

“Great respect for the lads playing today and the BWFC fans who travelled and supported their club to the end.

“Time for action to stop this happening. Enough is enough.”

Rovers boss Micky Mellon also described it as a “difficult afternoon” for his side, with the home team expected to produce the kind of scoreline they ultimately did.

The junior Whites battled hard only two concede two goals late in the first period to Ollie Banks and Morgan Ferrier.

Ferrier, lucky to stay on the pitch for a challenge on Harry Brockbank, notched a second moments into the second half before Connor Jennings and Stefan Payne, via a deflection, made sure of a thumping win.

It resulted in a first League One victory for newly-promoted Tranmere who had lost their opening two against Rochdale and Portsmouth and been beaten by Championship Hull in the League Cup in midweek.

“We are pleased to get the first clean sheet and the first win, it was one we would have expected to win in all due respect to Bolton so there was a lot of pressure on us and we know there is still a lot of work to be done,” former Fleetwood and Shrewsbury boss Mellon told his club’s website.

“To get a win like that today, we are delighted but there is a lot of work to still be done.

“We will keep on pushing and pushing until we get what we want and that is a competitive League One team.

“We know where we want them to be and that is to be competitive at this level.

“It was a difficult afternoon for us, because we expected to get the result and we did that.

“We are delighted and it was important to get our first win of the season.

“We knew it was going to be tough, we knew it was going to be a baptism of fire but we’ve grown into it and know we have to keep improving all the time in this league.”