Steve Schumacher hailed the pace of Jermaine Johnson after earning City a gutsy point at Tranmere last night.

For the second away game running, the midfielder took full advantage of a Johnson assist to slot home his fifth goal of the season.

City hit back from conceding an early goal from Gareth Taylor to clinch a 1-1 draw against the fifth-placed hosts - a good response to their critics following the shock exit of Dean Windass two days earlier.

Johnson took over up front and ran Tranmere ragged to earn rave reviews from Schumacher.

"JJ's got that much pace it's unbelievable," said the City midfielder. "He's always getting down the sides of defenders and it leaves a massive hole, which allowed me to score. We're going to miss Deano because he's a quality player. But we showed against Port Vale that we can play and win without him.

"We're not a one-man team and if the lads can keep putting performances in and chipping in with goals then hopefully we won't miss him too much.

"Tranmere are a good side and I thought it would be a struggle when they went 1-0 up early on. But we dug in and kept playing our football."

Colin Todd admitted he was slightly miffed that City had not made it back-to-back away wins.

The City boss said: "I might be a bit biased but I'm disappointed we didn't get more than a point. We certainly have the bit between our teeth.

"Tranmere are right up there in the table but I think any neutrals watching will have seen that we are a good side as well. I thought everyone contributed to our performance.

"We got done by an early goal but it never affected us and once again we showed that little bit of sparkle that is required.

"We didn't mention Deano before the game. We don't like losing players but if it's for the benefit of this club to survive then it had to be done by the chairman.

"But if you look at our record without Windass, we'd managed 13 points from seven games before this. We wish him well but we'll just get on with it."

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