Tranmere hit rock bottom in League One after a hugely disappointing 3-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Brentford.
An early penalty and a second-half sucker punch knocked the life out of the Wirral side in two crucial spells, but there was no hiding the fact that Brentford deserved the three points.
Tranmere were boosted by the return of Ian Goodison from suspension, as the veteran defender made his 300th appearance for the club alongside Man Utd loanee Scott Wootton.
While the forward line remained unchanged, in midfield Tranmere were still without the influential Joss Labadie, and his lack of presence was to be sorely missed.
Instead Rovers lined up with McLaren shielding the back four, with Mendy and captain John Welsh given license to chase ahead of him.
But any chasing they did do was aimless and ultimately futile, as from the off Brentford controlled the pace and pattern of the game, leaving Rovers chasing shadows.
While the Bees' style wasn't pretty, it was effective.
Two lines of four stuck rigidly to task, and harked back to the days of Ronnie Moore's football - direct, organised and in the end ruthless against a Tranmere side who failed to get any sort of foothold in the game.
Brentford could already have been ahead by the time they were awarded a penalty for a Cresswell handball in the sixth minute, Wootton adjudged to have been fouled by Charlie Macdonald, whose calm finish was ruled out.
But they took full advantage when the Tranmere left-back threw up a needless hand, and O'Connor coolly slotted the ball under Gulacsi to make it one-nil.
One of Tranmere's failings this season has been to turn round a losing position into a winning one.
While they have come back to draw against Dagenham and Redbridge, Charlton and Brighton in recent weeks, the general set up of the side is negative, and without a creative midfielder to support Showunmi, Rovers looked unlikely to get back into this one.
The one bright spark in the first half was Dale Jennings, who twice nearly created an equaliser - first when he broke into the box after skinning Legge on 15 minutes, only to see Mendy fluff the chance, and then with a sizzling drive on the half hour that flew just wide.
But the only other chance of note Rovers carved out in the first 45 was when the isolated Showunmi dropped deep to send in a tempting cross that Akins somehow failed to make contact with at the far post.
Brentford on the other hand put numerous balls into the Rovers box, and were somewhat unlucky not to be further ahead - Gary Alexander going close on a couple of occasions but failing to find the target.
Tranmere did have a spell early in the second half where they began to exert some pressure, though they were still far too deep and mainly threatening on the counter attack.
Jennings brought a clearance down on half way, and then sent a great ball over the top for Showunmi to chase.
The big striker used his pace to knock the ball past the Brentford defence, only to be denied by a great save from Hamer in the Bees net.
And Les Parry's last throw of the dice, moving to 4-4-2 and hauling off the peripheral figure of McLaren, was undone instantly by a fluke second.
O' Connor sent in a free kick from 40 yards which bounced dangerously in the box, drawing out Gulacsi, but with everyone missing it in spun agonisingly through and into the corner of the net.
This time it really was game over, and the introduction of Sam Morrow did little to change proceedings.
Indeed, the third goal was always on the cards and it was no surprise to see the ball go in after Goodison was drawn out wide to cover Darville, allowing an easy pull back and tap in for Bean.
The final whistle was greeted by boos from a section of the crowd, but more than anything there was a sense of desperation around Prenton Park.
There is an uncomfortable similarity to this stage last season with the defensive lapses, lack of cohesion and poor home performances which will surely not have gone unnoticed at board room level.
Manager Les Parry will no doubt be hoping the return of key personnel like Labadie, Broomes and Taylor will spark an improvement in performance and results.
The question on most fans lips though will be whether he should be given that time to turn things around.
Rovers team: Gulacsi, Darville, Wootton, Goodison, Cresswell, Mendy, McLaren (Fraughan 64), Welsh, Akins (Morrow 71), Showunmi, Jennings. Substitutes not used: Collister, Wood, Bakayogo, Blanchard, McGurk.
colin, prenton around 1 year, 7 months ago