Reaction

This was a massive win for the team, once again showing a never say die attitude and showing great character, at 1-0 “The Wasps” were always in the game and the manager and players believed if they could get one goal they were confident the game would change and they could go on and win the match. Stranraer will feel aggrieved at taking nothing from the game but the most important thing for Alloa Athletic was to win the game and collect back to back wins in a game we were not at our best.

jim goodwin after stranraer turnaround

Absolutely delighted, over the moon, we have played a lot better this season and lost or drew games, but I’m not going to stand here and say we played fantastic, we didn’t, it was there for everyone to see but I’m just so pleased for the boys they never know when they are beat, they never give in, they are a credit to themselves, they really are. From day one when I came in at the start in the summer as a player, I was blown away by their attitude, commitment and the way they train, they really are a fantastic group of boys. Really proud of them tonight because it would have been really easy to throw the towel in after half an hour, we could have been two or three nil down, but we didn’t kept ourselves in the game and in the second half I thought we did better.

We got to grips with their shape and made our own shape better and changed ours, in the end of the day it is a fantastic three points and that’s all that matters.  Stranraer dominated possession, especially in the first half there is no doubt of that, we were camped in our own half but saying that I can’t recall Neil Parry having too many saves to make, they had a number of corners. I thought Andy Graham and Jason Marr were terrific, Andy particular was putting his body on the line and had a great clearance near the end but I don’t like singling out any individual players because the overall team effort and commitment was immense. We had Greig Spence dropping out to right wing for the last five or ten minutes to see the game out. The way we managed the game at the end to make sure we did walk away with the three points was fantastic.

Stranraer will be frustrated they never killed the game off, for all the possession they had I don’t think they had any clear cut chances and at only 1-0 down you are always in the game. The next goal was always going to be vital and we knew if we got the next goal we could go on and win the game – that’s the kind of belief we have in this group, we always score and recently we have had to come from a goal down and we had to do that again but I think that is testament to the boys. I have been involved in a number of teams in my career who at 1-0 down would not come back – these lads don’t they are fantastic. Scoring the second goal just after Stranraer had lost the equaliser, you heard their fans and the Stranraer players had went down, they were anxious and all of a sudden it was a different ball game. We kept our foot on the gas and saw the game out, we came here to win.

Fantastic two wins back to back, up to second in the League table a fantastic start to the New Year but we know how difficult every fixture is in this league, Stranraer are a decent side who are at the wrong end of the table for whatever reason but we respect every team we play, however we believe if we hit the standards we are capable of then we are as good a match for anyone.

We have been working really hard for the past six weeks trying to see who is available in this transfer window but every club is doing the same, we are all fishing in the same pond and we are trying to make sure we get the right players, they need to be of the right character and mindset, I will not take any gambles on bad eggs or whatever, we have two or three lined up and hope to have news later next week.