Airdrieonians v Alloa Athletic

2 - 1
Full Time

KO KO 12 32 37 51 53 55 55 62 70 80 86 FT

Highlights

Reaction

After a pleasing performance and result against Falkirk on Saturday, Alloa stuttered to a uninspiring defeat in Airdrie. The first 45 minutes of the game at the Excelsior Stadium was a languid affair with Alloa having plenty of the ball but proving powerless to penetrate a packed Diamonds defence. After a couple of early snapshots went wide the home side took the lead from Alloa’s slackness. Niang who was a hero against Falkirk turned villain as he gave the ball away cheaply, Airdrie counter-attacked and the whipped cross found the head of Gallagher who had drifted off the back of Fernandy Mendy. While Hutton managed to stand up to the opening effort it would only ricochet back to the Airdrie striker to finish left-footed high into the net. Despite the deficit, Alloa were struggling to inject some tempo into the game and despite, their at times, neat interplay Currie in the Airdrie goal was rarely called into action.

As the second half started things became even worse for the Wasps as Adam Frizzell curled an outside of the right-boot effort around Hutton from 25 yards. Boyd almost sparked a reply as his quick feet beat two Airdrie defenders and subsequently won a corner. Durnan was unmarked around 6 yards, sending it past the goallie only to be cleared from the line.

Quick reactions from the visiting bench as on came Church and Sammon for Cawley and Niang. Sammon had an instant impact. Holding the ball up and running in the pocket, he one-two’d with Scougall and then opened his body up to swerve around Max Currie and find the bottom corner. It makes it two goals in two substitute appearances for Sammon after his effort to secure the Falkirk win on Saturday. Things could have been even better for the big Irishman as Taggart whipped in an effort and he could only head directly at the Airdrie keeper. Momentum swung towards Alloa, but despite the flow of play towards the Airdrie goal, they could not find that decisive equaliser and as the Airdrie players broke up the games’ momentum, it meandered towards a home victory and an Alloa disappointment.

Airdrieonians

1Max Currie Goalkeeper
16Craig Watson Defender
6Rico Quitongo Defender
10Dylan Easton Midfielder
6Callum Fordyce Defender
8Scott Agnew Midfielder
7Rhys McCabe Defender
21Adam Frizzell Midfielder 51'
9Calum Gallagher 22 Forward 12'
23Scott McGill 20 Midfielder
24Gabby McGill Forward
18Jay Cantley Goalkeeper
12Dean Ritchie Midfielder
20Rhys Caves 23 Midfielder
15Matthew McDonald Midfielder
19Scott Walker Defender
14Jordan Allan Forward
22Salim Kouider-Aissa 9 Forward

Alloa Athletic

31David Hutton Goalkeeper
2Scott Taggart Defender 37'
6Mark Durnan Defender 53'
23Fernandy Mendy Defender
8Jon Robertson Midfielder
19Mouhamed Niang 3 Defender
16Adam King Midfielder 32'
7Kevin Cawley 18 Midfielder
11Steven Boyd Forward
12Stefan Scougall 5 Midfielder
22Euan Henderson Forward
21Keir Burt Goalkeeper
3Daniel Church 19 Defender
4Craig Howie Defender
5Andy Graham 12 Defender
14Mark Lamont
18Conor Sammon 7 Forward 62'
20Cameron O’Donnell Midfielder

Ground

Excelsior Stadium
Penny Cars Stadium, Craigneuk Avenue, Islay, Craigneuk, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, ML6 8QZ, United Kingdom