Reaction

This was the first time “The Wasps” had faced Forfar Athletic since the epic play Off victory against “The Loons” on 17th May,2015 when we bounced back from a 3-1 deficit in the first leg to win the home fixture 3-0. Yesterday had its own drama and plenty character as “The Wasps” scored two late goals to clinch a 2-1 victory with the winner coming in the 94th minute.

Captain Andy Graham started the game but having injuried his shoulder at Tannadice last week it was always a risk and one which in the second half after 62 minutes he had to be replaced, taking his place was player / manager Jim Goodwin making his first appearance as a player since 7th January, 2017 at Stair Park against Stranraer, when “The Wasps” came back from 0-1 to win 2-1.

Slack play in defence allowed Forfar to take the lead seven minutes into the second half and five minutes later the manager introduced Craig Malcolm & Adam Martin in a positive move to try and inject more pace and goal threat to the team. To their credit there was a positive reaction from going behind and Alloa started to dominate possession. Kris Renton was close with header but signs were Alloa were getting back into the game, he came even closer but could not get on the end of Adam Martin’s cross in front of goal.

Forfar were getting deeper and looking to waste time and two minutes before the end Kevin Cawley scored his 3rd goal of the season and now his 48th for the club. The players never gave in and they had the ball in the net again before it was given as offside.

Deep into stoppage Kris Renton was to get his reward for never giving in, when the ball broke to him in the box he fired the ball past Forfar keeper Marc McCallum for a vital three points.

jim goodwin after late win over forfar

We didn’t play well at all today, there is no getting away from that, the real pleasing aspect of the game for me is the character of the players. We go a goal behind and things weren’t going our way – but they still managed to grind a result out. They kept going right till the death which was pleasing, obviously the substitutes made a difference making a great impact when they came on and we have a really good young prospect here in Adam Martin who has week after we week now made an impact when coming off the bench, he is desperate for a starting position and I am trying to be safe with the boy and not put too much on his shoulders all at once but I think after that performance again today I am struggling not to start him. Delighted for him and that is one huge positive we can take from the game today and we should really talk that one up because he is a young player who has come through our Academy who has got great ability and talent and one we are very excited about.

Big Kris Renton works tirelessly up front and he gives centre halves a real nightmare, he is a hard player to play against, he is definitely a handful there is no doubt about that. I’m sure he would have liked to get a goal sooner there is no doubt about that, that’s him off the mark now and hopefully that gives him the confidence he needs to kick on, to keep going and getting the winner in the 94^th minute was fantastic.

That is now seven points from nine at home in the league games, we what to make this place as difficult as possible for teams visiting here, the fans play their part in that, I know they were frustrated for long spells today, as were we, but I take full responsibility, it is me their frustrations should be aimed at because at the end of the day I pick the tactics the formation and the players. I probably hold my hands up in regards to our formation today, I wanted to go with the same team and the same formation as last week because I thought we did very well against very good Dundee United side. I didn’t feel I needed to change because I thought if we could replicate that performance then we would be fine, but we didn’t and that falls on me that’s my responsibility but gladly with half an hour to go we made the right changes and the right formation changes which helped us to go on and win the game.

Hopefully that will have been my first run out from January and hopefully my last, its sods law we go a goal behind and I make the two changes to try and bring on more offensive players and then big Andy Graham does his shoulder, he got a bad one last week and in fairness to the big guy he is that type of boy he wanted to play it, he is a big player for us but it just didn’t work out for him today, if he goes off the park in a normal stage of a game then in my mind I’m thinking moving Stevie Hetherington to left back and Daryll Meggatt into centre half and the back four are fine, but sods law I had already taken Stevie off the park and five minutes later the big man goes down rolling about like a big Jessie.

I felt we lacked an urgency, we spoke about it at half-time, especially in the first half, I felt the game was really flat from both teams , neither team played really well and don’t think it was a terrific spectacle to watch. We do try and play football and I think we have the players to play that way but in the last fifteen minutes today it was just about getting bodies up front and getting people in the box, it causes problems for defences but it is not the way I want us to try and play for 90 minutes, but when you are chasing the game late on then needs must. We are a better team than what we have shown, I believe there is an awful lot more to come still, we haven’t really got going yet, however we have managed 2 wins and a draw at home so for a team that really not got going yet we are not in too bad a place – we know we can improve and we will, we will work hard on the training field.

Andy’s injury is his ligaments in his shoulder it is not dislocated or something which would keep him out for 6-8 weeks, we will nurse him this week and let him sit out training, give him a good five days of doing nothing but we certainly cannot take a gamble next week, if he is not right we need to make that decision prior to the game, next week’s game is massive.