Tranmere Rovers fell to a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland on Wednesday night.

It was a poor game all in all but the League One strugglers were very much holding their own against the promotion hopefuls.

The Rovers looked good value for a point but a Charlie Wyke header was enough to give the Black Cats the three points at Prenton Park.

That goal was a sucker-punch for Tranmere, but what did we learn about Micky Mellon's side?

Let's take a look.

A leggy performance

Tranmere Rovers looked tired as they welcomed Sunderland to Prenton Park, but who can blame them after the week that they've had.

FA Cup ties against Watford and Manchester United have dominated the attention of the League One strugglers over the last week and so it's only natural that there would be something of a hangover.

Rovers looked good value to get a result for a while but it was clear that there was only going to be one winner as the second half went on.

A lack of creativity

It ties into the tiredness point but Tranmere rarely looked like truly threatening.

Eight shots on goal shows that the home side had a good hold of the game but the fact that there was only two shots on target shows their inability to carve out clear-cut chances against Sunderland.

In fairness, the Black Cats are one of the strongest sides in the league but Tranmere will need to improve their creativity if they're to get themselves out of trouble.

Let's see how you much you know about the EFL!

A glimmer of hope

Tranmere may be six points from safety, but they've showed that they could have enough to get out of danger.

As well as having two games in hand, Micky Mellon's side proved against the Black Cats that they're capable of competing with the league's top sides - something which will give them plenty of confidence in the coming weeks.

If they can put that sort of display in against lesser opposition then they stand a good chance of surviving.