Kevin Thornton knows Prenton Park better than most of his Albion team-mates heading to Merseyside today.

He played there for parent club Coventry but the Irish under-21 midfielder has watched more games at Tranmere than he has taken part in.

Thornton’s elder brother Sean, who is now with Albion’s fellow strugglers Leyton Orient, started his career on Merseyside after arriving from Ireland in 2001.

“When I was a young lad I used to go and watch him a lot,” said Thornton. “I have never played against him which I would like to do but he has had a good career and is still doing well.

“I might even get a bit of stick which I don’t mind because it can give you a bit of an edge. You just have to make sure it doesn’t get to you and punish their fans by scoring a goal or creating one.”

In 14 appearances since arriving from Coventry in October – seven of them as substitute – Thornton has yet to score, although only Glenn Murray has more assists than Thorton’s three.

His chances of building on those statistic tomorrow could improve if Albion’s injury problems continue.

The 22-year-old was given a free role by boss Micky Adams in Tuesday’s penalty triumph over Shrewsbury in the JP Trophy as support to lone striker Nicky Forster.

He later moved onto the right-hand side of midfield when Adams brought on Jake Robinson to support Forster and switched to a 4-4-2 formation.

With Glenn Murray and Stuart Fleetwood both struggling to be fit, Thornton could get another opportunity as the advanced player in a 4-5-1 – the same formation likely to be employed by Tranmere boss Ronnie Moore.

“I enjoyed playing in the centre of midfield,” he said.

“I am the sort of player who likes to be on the ball all the time and trying to make things happen.”

Albion have had a few false dawns this season when they have struggled to build on an encouraging result.

Thornton is as perplexed as his manager as to why that is because he believes the squad is good enough to be challenging at the other end of the table rather than peering anxiously over their shoulders ahead of a crucial Christmas of three games in eight days.

“We should not be where we are in the league,” he insisted. “When I first came here I was pleasantly surprised at how good the squad was and I think it’s only a matter of time before we put things right on the pitch – I think we’re good enough to be in the play-offs.

“We have three games now in a short space of time so we have an opportunity to build on Tuesday’s result and climb the table.

“Hopefully we have taken a bit of confidence out of Tuesday’s result and can put a run of results together.

“We seem to have done well against the good sides this season – the likes of Leicester and Millwall – but it’s no good getting those results if you lose to teams around or below you.

“We just have to grind out a few wins to breed confidence and then things will look a whole lot better in the table.”

Thornton’s own future will be up for discussion in the next few days.

His loan spell is due to end after the visit to Swindon on December 28 but no decision on what happens after that has yet been made, according to assistant manager Bob Booker.

“There is nothing to report on that at the moment,” said Booker.