TRANMERE Rovers boss Micky Mellon paid tribute to his players' performance following their 2-0 win over Colchester United.

Rovers registered a fifth home win of the season in League Two at Prenton Park, after second-half goals from Josh Hawkes and Peter Clarke saw them seal victory on Friday night.

Mellon said: "We'd spoken all week about how important it is traditionally for us on Friday nights to perform for what is a fantastic fanbase.

"We knew that we had that responsibility and the players have gone out there and really turned it on, put in a real top performance and got a really deserved and massive three points.

"The people of the Wirral are very proud people and they love their football.

"So it's important that we play in a way that satisfies them and that's what we try and do here.

"It's important that we put teams together that satisfy that.

"We just kept going because we know the qualities that they have in the group.

"One of them is fitness and we understand how fit the group is.

"That's great credit to the fitness people here and lads for putting the hard yards in.

"It's important that everybody is fit, in order for us to play the way that we want to play.

"So great credit to the players - the fans rolled them on and it was a traditionally fantastic Friday night of football."

The game was goal-less at the break, after Colchester held the home side at bay.

But Tranmere started the second half well and it was no real surprise when they broke the deadlock and eventually went on to win.

Mellon added: "We said to them at half-time that there's nothing really to be changed.

"The only thing that can change is if you negatively get frustrated because you don't feel like you got the rewards for how you played.

"But they came out of the traps like lightning in the second half and the pressure that they put on was immense.

"I just believed that at some stage, we'd maybe get that bit of fortune that's always needed to score goals or that quality that is needed and we got that, in the end.

"All across the whole team, they all had a standard and a level of playing that's set a new level for us.

"They were great at both sides of the game - we want to press hard, we want to run and we want to be good with the ball, so they can be pleased with that.

"There's still a long, long season ahead of us but we certainly look like we're heading in the right direction.

"We'll keep going and we'll keep our standards high.

"We won't have any big pats on the back yet and we'll keep doing what we're trying to do and that's represent this club properly."