All hail a Bradford City performance that felt like it was about more than just team spirit - the final word

Because whilst they were full value for their first League Two away victory since the season’s opening day, it was never comfortable.

Away supporters wear it as a badge of pride that they are present during their club’s lowest ebbs. Being an away fan is about the hard yards. Over 1,500 filled the away end on Saturday.

In terms of distance and facilities there are worse places to go than Prenton Park, but the circumstances were tough for Bradford’s players.

Already without injured centre-backs Ciaran Kelly and Aden Baldwin, they could have done without Neill Byrne's breakfast banana coming straight back up.

“He wanted to give it a go in the warm-up but he was back in within five minutes," revealed manager Graham Alexander. Paul Huntington, an emergency signing to cover that position, was ill at the start of the week too.

When ex-Bantam Omari Patrick skipped down the touchline then the byline to end the first half, on-loan Barnsley defender Jack Shepherd swept across and thundered into a tackle which left him sore where he recently suffered a dead leg.

He too had a couple of attempts at carrying on before limping away from a second spell of treatment in 10 minutes after the restart.

It left a back three of right-back Brad Halliday, Byrne's 11th-hour replacement, Lewis Richards, drafted onto the bench by Byrne's withdrawal and the pitch by Shepherd's, and Cheick Diabate in the middle of a back three for the first time in claret-and-amber.

For 17 minutes they had to man the barricades, clinging to the lead Andy Cook's precise poke from outside the area presented until he scored again on the counter-attack.

There was one shot on target during that time – Calum Kavanagh's at the other end. Sam Walker's only save all day came after half an hour.

With a first clean sheet on their travels since Accrington Stanley in March (ignore the Football League Trophy group stage, everyone else does) in weather that started bright and warm and got grimmer and colder, two more goals for Cook and plenty of adversity, afternoons like Saturday build team spirit.

But actually it was about more than just team spirit. This victory had a cast of hundreds, as the team acknowledged walking through the hail to thank fans who were still singing. This was club spirit.

“We need them and they need us," acknowledged manager Graham Alexander. "They’re involved in everything we want to do.

“Talk to the players, none of us can win on our own.

“We have to be together as a club because everyone outside will want to bring us down and beat us.

“If we can be together, it’s a much stronger unit. I think we’ve shown that in the last few weeks. The fans have stuck with us when we’ve had difficult performances and results.

“I think they’ve understood and hopefully they’ll get the benefits in the long term.”

After two great wins in a week it was easy to remember how downbeat things were beforehand, with one league win in the previous six.

"We had a couple of games before Monday where they weren't great," admitted Cook. "At the start of the season we were winning games but then we had a little bit of a dip.

"We've won the last two so we need to keep momentum going and keep winning games, hopefully."

If the defending was a big reason why Bradford did not lose, Cook was the main factor in winning.

Jay Benn won a 23rd-minute corner, Tyreik Wright cushioned the ball inside and Diabate laid it back for Cook to find the net.

Midway through the second half, Richie Smallwood released Kavanagh, who delayed his pass long enough to find Cook in space to smash in his fifth goal in four of these fixtures since swapping sides.

Before, during and after, the foundation was rock solid.

Halliday was last season's League Two right-back of the year and his instincts dealt with Patrick's in-to-out runs and got him forward in possession. Less familiar centre-backery was dealt with well too.

At full-time he was left-back in a five with Huntington judged to have enough to see the win out. Until then, Diabate was a strong last man, Smallwood his sturdy shield.

It was roll-your-sleeves-up, grit-your-teeth, sing-your-hearts-out stuff, with Cook's quality a fat cherry on the top. It was how away wins should be, even the weather.

Tranmere Rovers: McGee; Walker, Davies, Turnbull (Taylor 84); Norman, O'Connor, Merrie (Jennings HT), Bradshaw (Saunders HT); Morris (Hendry 74), Patrick; Dennis (Finley HT). Unused substitutes: Norris, Murphy.

Bradford City: S Walker; Halliday, Diabate, Shepherd (Richards 55); Smallwood; Benn, J Walker (Evans 84), Oduor (Pointon 89), Wright (Huntington 84); Cook, Kavanagh. Unused substitutes: Doyle, Smith, Oliver.

Referee: SS Gill (West London).