Tranmere Rovers v Manchester United: FA Cup fourth round – live!

15 min: At this point, it would feel remiss not to suggest that perhaps United have finally found their level…they are stroking the ball around with class.

14 min: “We’re on the march with Ole’s army,” sing the United fans. They’re all going to Wem-ber-lee.

Dalot on the overlap comes on to a pass from Martial, cuts outside and smashes it. A great goal. Another first goal for United.

13 min: Maguire booed by the home fans. He must have done something right.

11 min: Maguire stepped forward, fancied his chances and took ownership of the situation. Big smile from Ole on the sideline, as well there might be.

Wallop, that is a howitzer, and his first goal for United…it took a slight deflection off Peter Clarke.

9 min: Harry Maguire, looking, well, harried, has to clear behind. Tranmere’s latest corner comes to naught but the most dangerous team on show is that who used to be sponsored the Wirral’s council.

8 min: Mark Exton asks: “Please tell me OGS took the squad somewhere to train on a surface similar to today’s! Or did they stay at Carrington, in their bubble?”

No suggestion they did, Mark.

7 min: A spell of United attacking with Greenwood to the fore. It comes to an end when Tranmere break. Blackett-Taylor barges into the United box and goes down. Penalty? No, a foul by the Tranmere attacker and Phil Jones is hurt and limping. His shirts and shorts are now around 35 percent covered in mud.

4 min: Phil Jones is booked for clattering Ferrier, and he is also already smeared in mud. Not a good start for United’s Jonah.

3 min: Tranmere for a corner and it causes panic in the United box, as Romero is unsure of the ball’s flight and the ground below him. Jennings’ shot goes straight at Romero. An early warning sight…

1 min: And away we go….great throwback atmosphere in Birkenhead. Boos for every United touch, and lots of chanting. Mason Greenwood involved early, though does seem to get his feet stuck on one of the gulleys down the flank of the field.

Harry Maguire, who never seems to get rested, steps on to the field gingerly as the teams take to the field.

And here’s that famous pitch.

Micky Mellon, a Scotsman, speaks about his Tranmere team.

You only have to look around to see the huge numbers. It’s terrific for the local community to have Manchester United in town. [On the pitch] We have to play on it as well…we’ll give it a right good go…there’s lot of adrenaline.

Reminder that Tranmere were a non-league club as recently as last May, and came from the National League via the play-offs. They are in League One after being promoted straight away, but this season has been more of struggle; they are third bottom.

These two clubs have actually met this season, in the Football League trophy, where Tranmere beat United’s Under-23 team 3-2 but they have only met once at full senior level, in the League Cup on September 1976. United, managed by Tommy Docherty, won 5-0, thanks to two goals from Gerry Daly, and one each from Stuart Pearson, Gordon Hill and Lou Macari. Steve Coppell, in the United team that day, had been signed from Tranmere.

Paul Mullin scored the winning goal against Watford on Thursday.

Ole’s hopes spring eternal.

For Manchester United, Romero. Dalot, Lindelof, Shaw, Lingard, Martial and Greenwood come in; it looks like Ole has opted for three centre backs, unless Phil Jones is going to resurrect his central midfield role of yore. Luke Shaw played at centre back last week so perhaps Ole has opted for a Pulisian/Allardici/Sgt Wilko approach of playing as many defenders as possible.

There has been one hell of an effort from volunteers and the club to get the pitch ready for this match, really quick turnaround. It looks like the centre of the field is where the best surface is. Prenton Park also hosts the Liverpool women’s team and a waterlogged pitch caused the cancellation of a women’s Merseyside derby not too long ago.

Ian Muir, Dave Challinor, Stuart “Barndoor” Barlow, Kenny Lunt, Wayne Allison, Aldo, Friday nights at Prenton Park, Half Man Half Biscuit blowing out an appearance on The Tube so they could stay on the Wirral to watch their heroes, reaching the semis in that weird Mercantile Credit Festival thing in 1988: how’s about that for all the Tranmere cliches?

After coming through an epic two-parter with Watford in the finest traditions of the FA Cup, now for not so-mighty Manchester United, the club – ‘cloob’ in the case of Ole Gunnar Solskjær – going through more crises than a series of The Colbys.

The pitch is a throwback to the Baseball Ground of the 1970s, and might even redouble as a location for the film 1917, so it could be a great leveller…and here comes the gag about how it could reduce Tranmere to Manchester United’s level. There is a shock in the offing here, though would it really be a shock if Micky Mellon and his men were swigging champagne in celebration at full-time?

Kick-off is at 3pm UK time, join me