Rochdale Seek Progress in Carabao Cup at Tranmere

Rochdale's first competitive fixture of the 2026/27 campaign takes them to Tranmere, in an attempt to reach Round One of the Carabao Cup. The winners of this tie will head to Bradford City on Saturday 8th August. Both sides begin the season under new stewardship, with our hosts appointing Darrell Clarke in the summer, after they ended the last campaign with two interim managers.

What happened?

The first competitive fixture of our 2026/27 campaign takes us to Tranmere, in an attempt to reach Round One of the Carabao Cup. The winners of this tie will head to Bradford City on Saturday 8th August.

Why it matters for Rochdale

Both sides begin the season under new stewardship, with our hosts appointing Darrell Clarke in the summer, after they ended the last campaign with two interim managers.

What comes next?

The match will be shown live on Sky Sports +. We have recently partnered with Urban Zoo, allowing all supporters based in the UK & Ireland to listen to live audio commentary of every Dale match, across all competitions.

The opposition

Tranmere's six-year stint in League Two was close to coming to an end last season as they finished just two points and two places above the bottom two. The last ten years at the football club has seen three campaigns spent in the National League, back-to-back promotions to reach the third tier, spending one season as they were relegated on points per game and now a large stint in the fourth.

Team news

The gaffer confirmed that both Will Jenkins and Sam Beckwith are awaiting scans on injuries picked up in our friendly with FC Halifax Town on Tuesday. Laurence Maguire and Kaiden Wilson are absent from Saturday's squad through injury. Nils Ramming nears a return and could feature in the matchday squad.