Older supporters will have fond memories of Alloa’s last visit to Fir Park—a record-breaking cup upset. On August 13th, 1996, Alloa traveled to Motherwell for a 2nd Round League Cup encounter. In the club’s first competitive match of the season, Alloa had overcome East Stirlingshire 3-1 at Firs Park in round 1—with goals from Neil McAvoy, Willie Irvine, and Peter Dwyer against his former club. Managed by Alex McLeish, Motherwell was a fairly formidable force, with a squad containing players such as Tommy Coyne, Owen Coyle, Willie Falconer, Billy Davies, and John Philliben (Philiben was to be involved in another memorable Alloa match two years later—sent off for Stirling Albion as Alloa were 7-0 victors).

Alloa was a Third Division club at the time and was given next to no chance against their Premier League opposition. However, after 120 goal-less minutes of football, Alloa triumphed in the penalty shoot-out—with Jimmy Gilmour scoring the decisive spot-kick and goalkeeper Robert Balfour being something of an unlikely hero.

We played well and I thought we competed remarkably well over the 120 minutes – especially after playing extra-time on Saturday. You cannot be a manager of a third-division club and expect to beat a side from the premier division but I felt if there was to be a shock it could be tonight with Motherwell reeling after losing a couple of their players

Tom Hendrie, Alloa Manager

Alloa’s team that night was as follows: Robert Balfour, Craig Valentine, Neil McAvoy (Jimmy Gilmour), Mark Nelson, Mark Cowan, John McCormack, Kevin Kane, Stuart Mackay, Peter Dwyer, Willie Irvine, Barrie Moffat.

This was the first time in Scottish football history that a Third Division club defeated a team from the Premier League in a competitive match, with the Third Division newly formed just a few years earlier. Alloa were rewarded with a “home” tie against Celtic in the 3rd Round—the tie was played at Firhill to ensure a larger crowd. Alloa supporters experienced another memorable moment—getting back on level terms early in the second half when Paul McAneny scrambled home an equalizer to Andreas Thom’s first-half opener. But sadly and perhaps understandably, Celtic’s firepower of Jorge Cadete, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, and Paulo Di Canio eventually did their damage, and Alloa was beaten 5-1.

Historically, Alloa and Motherwell have sparsely met through the years—only facing each other on 12 occasions spanning over 100 years. This will be only their fourth Scottish Cup meeting—the others came in the season 1921/22, a memorable season for the Wasps where they were edged out of the cup by a single goal. Then in the 1953 Scottish Cup, Motherwell was 2-0 victors at Recreation Park. And finally, in 1986, a Dom Sullivan goal was not enough as Alloa lost again at home 2-1. Motherwell Manager Tommy McLean would be generous in praise and said, to Jimmy Thomson his Alloa Athletic counterpart, “You deserved a draw, but the Alloa boss quickly replied, The reality is its goals that count”.

The clubs have plied their trade in the same league on only three occasions—Division 1 in 1922/23 (a season covered brilliantly by fellow columnist Donald Pollock) and Division 2 in 1953/54 and 1968/69. Finally, in League Cup Group Sections in 1983/84, Motherwell repeated their 2-1 scoreline with Lennie McComb scoring for the Wasps. But Alloa did pick up a memorable 2-2 draw at Fir Park in the return game with goals from Davie Houston and Frankie Cole. That result, combined with the aforementioned 1996 upset, means that Alloa is unbeaten at Fir Park since 1969—54 years. Alloa only managed one more draw in the 12 fixtures, though, with Motherwell picking up 9 wins. But Alloa will be looking to achieve that first victory over Stuart Kettlewell’s men. They will be underdogs, of course, but they might just be able to channel some of that character from the 1996 and 1983 visits. One to look forward to in the New Year.

Thanks as always to “The History of Alloa Athletic” book by John Glencross and Stuart Latham for some of the statistics used in this article.

by Brian Roach

As we enter the second half of an enthralling cinch SPFL season, cinch, the title partner of the SPFL is giving you the chance to win a signed jersey and ball from your favourite club. There are multiple prizes for every club in every SPFL league – 150 in total!

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Alloa Athletic Football Club is appalled at the incident after the match v Edinburgh City on Saturday 6th January 2024 which resulted in two away fans being assaulted outside KFC after the match. We condemn the actions of those responsible and apologise to Edinburgh City and the two fans affected.

Our Club is ashamed to be associated with anyone involved in this incident and are angry that the actions of a minority have completely overshadowed the match. This behaviour tarnishes our reputation and will not be tolerated by the Club.

We are currently working with the relevant authorities to identify the perpetrators who will face the strongest action from the Club .

Andy Allan
Alloa Athletic Football Club Chairman

We can confirm Bradley Rodden has signed for Stenhousemuir in a permanent deal.

The striker won a contract after impressing in last season’s pre-season fixtures and quickly made his mark on the scoresheet in successive weeks garnering the best goals to minutes ratio in the country at one point.

This season despite making only 7 starts and 6 sub appearances he’s still currently joint top scorer with 5 goals.

All the best in the future Brad.

16 December 2023 1 – 2 Full Time

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• Highlights
• Match Info
• Lineups
• Past Meetings
• Ground

Highlights

Reaction

Cove Rangers

1	Nicholas Suman Goalkeeper
2	Jacob Jones Defender
3	Michael Doyle Defender
4	Connor Scully Midfielder
5	Mouhamed Niang Defender	53′
9	Will Gillingham Defender
7	Paul McGowan 11 Forward
8	Blair Yule Midfielder
9	Mitch Megginson 29 Forward
10	Rumarn Burrell Forward	19′
26	Mark Reynolds Defender
23	Jack Robertson Goalkeeper
11	Kyle Connell 7 Forward
15	Arron Darge Defender
18	Tyler Mykyta Midfielder
22	Mark Gallagher Defender
27	Cameron Stewart
29	Scott Williamson 9 Forward

Alloa Athletic

1	PJ Morrison Goalkeeper
2	Scott Taggart Defender
20	Cameron O’Donnell Midfielder	40′ 76′
6	Morgyn Neill Defender
23	David Devine Defender
4	Steven Hetherington Midfielder
12	Stefan Scougall Midfielder
8	Kurtis Roberts Midfielder
7	Kevin Cawley 18 Midfielder	40′
26	Quinn Coulson 19 Forward	62′
28	Bobby Wales Forward
21	Keir Burt Goalkeeper
3	Euan Deveney Defender
19	Steven Buchanan 26 Midfielder
25	Jon Robertson Midfielder
18	Conor Sammon 7 Forward
16	Alistair Roy Forward
10	Bradley Rodden Forward
14	Miko Virtanen Midfielder
5	Andy Graham Defender

Past Meetings

2 September 2023 1 – 0 cinch League 1 N/A Alloa Athletic v Cove Rangers Attendance: 506
16 April 2022 3 – 0 cinch League 1 N/A Cove Rangers v Alloa Athletic Attendance: 1281
26 February 2022 2 – 2 cinch League 1 N/A Alloa Athletic v Cove Rangers Attendance: 612
18 December 2021 3 – 0 cinch League 1 N/A Cove Rangers v Alloa Athletic Attendance: 585
2 October 2021 1 – 3 cinch League 1 N/A Alloa Athletic v Cove Rangers Attendance: 554

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Ground

Balmoral Stadium
Balmoral Stadium, Wellington Circle, Redmoss, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

Pictures from Saturday's @cinchuk League 1 match between @CoveRangersFC @AlloaAthleticFC now up on flickr. https://t.co/AZTL3WMl0F pic.twitter.com/M9EMKUKIB6

— David Glencross (@dgxwasp) December 18, 2023