Town Reserves 0 - 1 Tranmere Reserves. Pontin's Holiday Premier. TOWN Reserves were stung late as they suffered a first defeat of the season at the McAlpine yesterday.

A holiday crowd of 185 seemed destined to see a goalless draw until Jamie McGuire snatched the points for Tranmere.

In a repeat of the previous night's Carling Cup tie, Town's opponents scored 10 minutes from time - Paul Brown slicing their defence for McGuire to finish with the outside of his right boot.

Strangely, Town had gone perilously close to taking the lead themselves two minutes earlier when Nat Brown, turning in the box, had a low drive skim off the hand of goalkeeper Russell Howarth and curl inches wide.

Brown - on the bench the previous night at Reading - had been unlucky not to give Town the edge in the first half in a well-contested Pontin's Holidays League Premier Division fixture.

In the 17th minute, he climbed at the back post to meet Anthony Lloyd's cross only to see Howarth parry the ball to Adnan Ahmed, who fired over from a tight angle.

Then, on 35 minutes when he was clean through, Brown should have scored but elected to square the ball for Steve Kenworthy, who was blocked out.

Ahmed showed strongly as Town played their best football in the first half of a match which marked a return to senior action for long-term injury victims Ian Hughes and substitute John McCombe.

In the second half, Paul Walker, a 16-year-old trialist from Heckmondwike, was given a chance up front and tested the goalkeeper with a low left-foot shot.

Walker played in a charity match a few weeks ago with manager Peter Jackson, who was watching from the stand yesterday as the Reserves lost for the first time in six outings.

Town: Senior, Booty, Lloyd, Mirfin (McCombe, 79mins), Scott, Hughes, Thompson, Holland, Brown, Kenworthy (Walker, 64mins), Ahmed (Walsh 56mins). Subs not used: Giles, McAliskey.