“The Wasps” were looking to bounce back after their disappointing defeat to league leaders Ayr United in midweek, but it was a game against Dunfermline where it was obvious the first goal was going to be crucial.

Once again Alloa started brightly in the game and created the best chances, not just half chances but as in recent games just needed to be more clinical in final third.

Greig Spence returning to the side up front was so unfortunate not to open the scoring when his net bound shot was cleared off the line at the last moment and Alan Trouten was later denied by the legs of keeper Lee Robinson, when the shot in front of goal hit the keepers legs. Alloa had created the better chances but couldn’t get the elusive opening goal.

Dunfermline Athletic took the lead on 69 minutes when Jackson Longridge scored with a stunning strike and the breakthrough and all important opening goal giving them a platform.

Once again for “The Wasps” it was another game which on another day they could have collected the three points. Anyone who was at the game can see we have good players who have shown they can compete in this league. Although the result was disappointing there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

jim goodwin after home defeat to dunfermline

The result is not great, it is not what we were looking for and it just shows you how important it is to take your chances. At key moments in the game we had two fantastic opportunities to get ourselves in front, one cleared off the line from Greig Spence and then the goalkeeper makes a great save from Alan Trouten. Goals at this level are massive, the first goal at this level is huge, Dunfermline got in front and you can see how they could hang on and see out the three points, but I believe if we had got the first goal today we would have won the game but it wasn’t to be.

I thought in the first half we were the better team, you don’t get too many clear cut opportunities at this level and that’s been a problem for us this season, that when we get into good positions and we get good opportunities we have to be more clinical, it’s a simple as that. We should have been going in at half-time two nil up and comfortable, but at 0-0 we always expected Dunfermline to get an opportunity, albeit the goal they scored is a fantastic strike from Jackson Longridge 20 yards out into the top corner, fair play to him for taking that on, the game could have easily played out to a 0-0 draw. Dunfermline did get more opportunities in the last ten minutes due to fact we were committing more bodies forward, but other than that there was nothing between the teams.

Ian Flannigan is a big player for us he gives us that bit of composure in the middle of the park but I thought Robbo and Stevie were excellent and I don’t think we lost the game because Flanny wasn’t playing, I have a decent squad and with Flanny being out it was an opportunity for Stevie to get back into the starting eleven, Ian has a slight tweak to his back but hopefully he will be back available for Morton next Saturday.

I don’t think there is a great deal between a lot of the sides, Ross County and Dundee United are big clubs at this level with massive budgets, so we expect them to be at the top end, Ayr United have down absolutely fantastic catching everyone by surprise but the rest of us we have went toe to toe with every other team and we have not been hit for a four or five goal defeat at any point throughout the season. We had a bad night on Tuesday down at Ayr but again 3 -0 flatters Ayr losing a goal in the 97^th minute. I keep saying to the boys we have absolutely nothing to fear. We have doubled the points tally gathered by Brechin City all last season, we have a Quarter-Final of a cup to look forward to and we are not sitting bottom of the league and everybody expected us to be sitting bottom of the league and a drift from everyone else, we are a point behind Partick Thistle and four points clear of Falkirk at the bottom of the league as disappointed as we are today and with some of our recent results there is still a lot of positives to take and we are only a third of the way through and I think we can get better and that is a good thing for us.

It is always difficult to look back on a game where you might have been happy with a point prior to kick-off but then reflect on what later in the season will be looked at as two points dropped.

Alloa had the best chances in the game, especially in the first half with Cawley, Shields and Zanatta all having good opportunities to get the important first goal of the game.

Inverness Caley Thistle are the only team in the Championship to be still unbeaten in the league so far this season and only last ditch tackles and good goalkeeping kept that statistic still alive especially in the first half.

In the second period Alloa still looked dangerous on the counter attack, Inverness CT did look brighter especially after the introduction of substitutes Daniel MacKay & Nathan Austin. However it was Dario Zanatta who came even closer striking the crossbar with fifteen minutes left.

Invernes CT had their best opportunity of the match with five minutes left when Daniel MacKay nearly ghosted in but Neil Parry reacted quickly to block the danger. Then in the closing minute the same Caley Thistle player brought down Dario Zanatta as he looked to break clear in the final chance of the game.

JIm goodwin after home draw to inverness ct

Prior to the game if you had offered me a 0-0 draw and a good point I probably would have took it,  but on reflection of the overall ninety minutes, I think we were the better team, we definitely had the better chances in the game and here I am standing here like I have done after previous matches where I have felt we have left two points out there. We have had five draws and I can think of at least three of these five draws we could easily have won these games, so we could be sitting with another five or six points on the board, but it is a good point Inverness are a very good team they have some really good quality players that can hurt you, delighted for my defenders again getting another clean sheet, which had been a problem for us, but two back to back clean sheets and it is another point in the right direction.

I think we had four excellent opportunities in the first half – Connor Shields had one, Kevin Cawley and Dario Zanatta all had clear cut opportunities and you are just hoping one of them would hit the back of the net. I can’t ask any more of the players, I think the pleasing thing for me is we are now ten games into the league and we now have eight points on the board, Brechin City showed last season just how difficult this league is, picking up four points in 36 games we have now managed eight in ten games, so hopefully we can now kick on and take confidence from today’s game into another very difficult fixture against Ayr United in midweek.

Our formation we have at the moment 4-2-3-1 only caters for one striker and I thought Dario Zanatta was excellent, I felt around the seventy minute mark we started to tire a bit and Inverness were running over the top of us a little bit in the middle of the park, so we changed it to a formation of 4 – 5 – 1 to stem the flow of the attacks Inverness were having, Greig Spence is a terrific striker that’s the reason we brought him to the club but at this moment in time there is a lot of players on my bench who are good players but can’t get in the team, that’s credit to the starting eleven but I want competition for places, I want people to be pushing and its important the boys on the park who have been selected know that if they don’t live up to the standard expected then there is somebody waiting in the wings to come in, but delighted with the performance another point in the right direction for us and we now look forward to Tuesday.

I was told it was my 100^th match in charge, it’s hard to believe 100 games have went past already so quickly but I have loved every minute of it, I am very lucky to have been given the opportunity two years ago and I am delighted to be here, I’m enjoying my time here I have a great back room staff, people up the stairs and more importantly I have a great group of players who are now starting to believe they are more than capable of competing at this level and that’s what I want, people wrote us off before a ball was kicked, expecting us to be detached, but the fact of the matter is we are more than matching the opposition.

Two clean sheets have been great in our last two matches but today we were just not clinical enough, we got into great areas , sometimes making the wrong decisions but that happens with young players, one thing I can never do is fault their effort and if they carry on doing that they will be fine.

The most important statistic on Saturday was Alloa Athletic claiming their first three points of the season, it was great to get the first three league points and silence the doubters after Brechin City had went through last season without a win and punters because we are part-time putting us in the same category. To get this “Monkey off the players back was huge”.

The Wasps were searching for their first win in the league which was over due, Partick Thistle and their fans had looked for a bounce after new manager Gary Caldwell took charge on the Monday prior to the game.

Although Partick Thistle had a lot of possession, especially in the second half they didn’t trouble the Alloa defence with keeper Neil Parry having a shut out which made sure the points stayed at Alloa.

Partick Thistle certainly could claim to have a lot of possession especially in the second half but we limited them on this ocassion but they are a top class side who surely will regain their position higher up in the league.

The result on the day is reward for the Alloa players commitment, it’s good to get that win and the Monkey off our backs. However there was a sense of entitlement in the victory and we are good enough to have secured the three points after being written off as a part-time club.

jim goodwin after first 3 points gained of the season

Absolutely delighted with the result because it has been well documented that we were still without a league win so far this season, really pleased for the players to get that monkey off our back because they have been working ever so hard, of the nine games we have had four draws and of those four draws we could have easily won a couple of them so we could have had already another two or three points on the board which I don’t think anybody would argue about. Today was a real team effort, the players showed great resilience, dug in at spells, we said on Thursday night at training we expected Partick Thistle to have good possession because they are a good side, they have a lot of players with Premier League experience never mind Championship experience. I think they are in a false position if I’m being honest, they are better than their league position would suggest and they dominated the majority of possession in the second half but with that being said my goalkeeper Neil Parry did not have too many saves to make. The shape of the team, the organisation, communication on the park and denying Partick Thistle any room getting in behind us and putting bodies on the line and protecting our goal was a great credit not only our back four and goalkeeper but our whole team put in a real shift.

The players have been in good form in recent weeks, we went to Dunfermline last weekend and scored two goals albeit we conceded a sloppy goal, at Dumfries against Queen of the South the previous week we scored three goals but unfortunately conceded three goals in the same game. We spoke about the importance of getting back to being hard to beat, clean sheets are vital to that at any level and use that as a platform to kick on from, you will always get an opportunity and I said that to the players if we could keep a clean sheet we would win the game because regardless of who you are playing you will always get chances. Dario Zanatta did great with the goal, pulling the ball out of the sky and a really good finish a half turn and low shot, it would have been nice for him to get the second one but for a fantastic save from Cammy Bell and that certainly would have made the last five or six minutes of the match more bearable and enjoyable than they were.

I watched three or four of their games in midweek and I know they are a good team maybe lacking in a bit of confidence when you are not getting results, we know only too well when you are down you never get the breaks but they have already won three games so far this season, I think Gary Caldwell is a good appointment, I know Gary from some of the Coaching License courses we have been on together, he is a positive young manager with a really good squad and I believe they will kick on and move up the table in the coming weeks and months. They dominated the game and I’m more pleased on how we defended rather than how well we played on the ball, we know we can be better than that in possession; it was more the resilience we showed and our willingness not to get beat.

Sam Roscoe was named “Man of the Match” today but along with Andy Graham, Liam Dick and Scott Taggart I thought my back four were outstanding, Sam is a young boy we have got on loan from Aberdeen, he has not had a lot of first team experience but he has learned a lot in the last few weeks, as with any young player they can make mistakes and it is up to me as the manager to identify these mistakes and go over anything playing back instances on a laptop and he has been quite receptive to taking things in which is good and he is learning every week and getting better each week, a left sided centre half at six foot three are hard to come by so if he carries on progressing the way he has he will have a very good career in front of him.

Delighted for Jon Robertson making his 100^th first team start for the club today, he loves it here along with a number of the other players we now have about six others who have made over 100 starts for the club which speaks volumes of the club and how well the club is run, the players enjoy coming here, delighted for Jon he has been in and out throughout the season he has played in the last few games and deserves his place in the team at the moment.

“The Wasps” missed a great chance to go six points clear of local derby opponents Falkirk at the Indodrill Stadium on Saturday. Although neither team had secured a victory in the league this season Alloa Athletic went into the game with confidence of collecting the three points after being on top in games but not doing enough in front of goal the secure their first three points.

Once again “The Wasps ” had the bulk of possession in the match but lacked killer instinct in front of goals. This was a massive game for both clubs when a victory, however ugly would be a marker for the victor. Kevin Cawley was causing the visiting defence most problems and had an early call for “Hand Ball” as his cross into the box appeared to be knocked away with a hand.

Falkirk took the lead after 26 minutes in their first attack, Zak Rudden on loan from Rangers heading home and before half-time they might have extended their lead due to a defensive mix up.

With Alloa pushing for the equaliser Falkirk extended their lead in the most fortuitous circumstances, a long ball out of defefence was bundled home by Zak Rudden with the Alloa defence claiming “Hand Ball”.

“The Wasps” had lost two bad goals in a game Falkirk looked very fragile and were relieved the collect full points. It was a ugly win but Alloa need to score when on top, while they had most of the pressure they didn’t trouble visiting goalkeeper Leo Fasan enough.

While “The Wasps” applied pressure on “The Bairns” they never looked like scoring, Adam Brown going closest to pulling a goal back, the Falkirk defence thwarted every attack, they were relieved to collect the points their first victory of the season, while Alloa kb=now they need to improve in front of goals. It may have been an ugly win for Falkirk but a game in which three points were so important, regardless of the display.

jim goodwin after defeat to bottom side falkirk

A very frustrating day, I thought we started well; we were dominating possession of the ball and then Falkirk score with their first attack, we didn’t defend the cross well enough and the young boy Zak Rudden loses his marker and a decent header, but it was too cheap from our point of view.

The second goal was a shambles to be fair, a calamity of errors which was disappointing again , that’s the frustrating point about it, if teams cut you open and score really good goals you hold your hands up but at the moment we are gifting goals. The boy apparently put the second goal in with his hand, its big decisions like that you hope the referee get right but there was no chance of him seeing that today.

I am very disappointed it is another defeat at home a place we had hoped to be a fortress but that has not been the case so far this season. It was a massive game to be fair if we had won the game we could have had a six point cushion between ourselves and Falkirk, even if we had picked up a point it would have kept them three points below us. Losing the game is disappointing but more so the manner in which we lost, I’m coming in here every week and now sounding like a broken record – if it was the case we were parking the bus with ten men behind the ball and hanging on in games then I could accept but at the moment I just feel we are more than matching teams, in possession wise we are fine, we lack a bit of a cutting edge at the top end of the pitch which is frustrating but it would be just nice to see us getting the first goal and see how teams react, at the moment we are chasing games and it is difficult, we must dust ourselves down and get ready for another difficult game next week at Dumfries against Queen of the South.

The first goal is massive in any game, we had about 60% of the possession and the whole of the second half we were camped in their half, they scored with one long ball over the top, Neilly shouldn’t have come to where he comes to and we ended going behind 2-0, I don’t know what the answer is just now, we are working really hard in training – we are in control in games but we are just not clinical in front of goals and not working their goalkeepers enough.

Looking back on yesterday’s home defeat to Ayr United, it would be fair to say “The Wasps” were not at their best after going five games unbeaten, the one thing which needs to be improved on in this division is converting chances in front of goal and yesterday Ayr United striker Lawrence Shankland proved to be the difference between the two sides.

There was not much between the sides in the early stages of the match, with the first goal proving to be so crucial in the games this season. Therefore it was no surprise that it was that man, Lawrence Shankland who opened the scoring after 23 minutes with his 14th goal of the season. Dario Zanatta came close to equalising prior to half -time but his effort was blocked at the near post by visiting keeper Ross Doohan.

“The Wasps” made a change at half-time with Connor Shields replacing Alan Trouten in an effort to push forward and get behind the Ayr United defence.
Indeed, Jim Goodwin’s men started the second half on top but cound down get that important equalising goal, Connor Shields watching a net bound shot turned round the post.

Ayr United always looked a threat and the killer second goal arrived after 65 minutes and it was that man Lawrence Shankland again with goal number 15 for the season. “The Wasps” have started their championship league campaign in good form, albeit needing to score more goals, on the day Ayr United desreved their victory but no we have the chance to bounce back in a eagerly awaited local derby against Falkirk next Saturday.

jim goodwin after home defeat to ayr

I didn’t think there was a great deal in the game in the first half, both teams playing end to end, both teams had half chances nothing great and then Lawrence Shankland does want he does and pops up with a goal, it was a decent ball into the box we could have defended better, there is no point marking space in situations like that, you need to mark the man who undoubtedly was the one likely to score a goal. He was the difference today, there was no doubt about it, he is to Ayr United what Stephen Dobbie is to Queen of the South, two players who shouldn’t really be playing at this level, if I’m being honest I think they are in a bit of a comfort zone by playing at this level, they are Premier League strikers, they certainly should be playing in the Premier League as far as I am concerned and you can see that in the fact they can score two or three goals each week, that was the difference, he turned half chances into goals and that’s what separated the teams today.

It is concerning we are not scoring enough goals, up until today we were unbeaten in five games, defending really well and again today barring the last fifteen minutes of the game I thought we defended really well, that said in the last fifteen minutes we were two goals down and trying to have a go at them to see if we could get some way back into the game. We have got really good players in the forward areas of the pitch, some exciting young talent and for whatever reason at the moment we have just not been taking these opportunities when they come along, we just need to be a bit more clinical. Connor Shields did well, Liam Burt came on and made a wee difference as well, Alan Trouten is a terrific player and we brought him to the club to be that playmaker but I felt today the way the game was going, particularly in the first half, Ayr United were dropping deep with two banks of four, denying Alan any space, that’s why we made that change at half-time and I know Trout’s will be disappointed but we made it for the right reasons and I asked Connor to go and try and stretch the game and get in behind and we still didn’t do it enough if I’m honest in the second half.

All that said, take nothing away from Ayr United they are a very good team, they go top of the league tonight after today’s results and I’m not being disrespectful of the rest of their players because I said the difference was Lawrence Shankland, they have good players in their team but at that top end of the pitch that’s where games are won and lost, and he was the difference today.

Jim Goodwin and his Alloa Athletic players know that league points will be hard to collect in the cHampionship this season, but nobody could deny “The Wasps” should have collected three points against Dundee United on Saturday.

This was the first league meeting between the clubs since Season 1959/60 when Alloa won 3-2 and although many have not given the part-time club any paudits this season, they have already proved they will be a match for ant side this season.

“The Wasps” started the game well and took the game to their full time ex Premier League opponents and could have been ahead within the first 20 minutes which they were on top. This was the first time this season Alloa were able to field a full squad including having a full seven players on the bench strenghened by the signing of Sam Roscoe from Aberdeen and Connor Shields from Sunderland on loan.

Against the run of play Dundee United took the lead when Paul watson headed home for his third goal in two games. Jim Goodwin’s men did not let this trouble them and Iain Flannigan went close with free kick off the cross bar

Then with nine minutes left “The Wasps” got the goal their play deserved, Iain Flannigan firing home a peach of a free kick after Dario Zanatta had been fouled by Stuart Murdoch.

Again the Alloa Athletic players had showed great character getting back into the game but they could not find a winner as United hold on, but on chances and opportunities this was two points which would have been so welcome and deserved.

jim goodwin after draw against dundee united

My thoughts on the game are I am slightly disappointed to be honest, I think that is testament to my players, because I feel it is two points dropped. I think anybody who was at the game today would have seen we were on top and I have spoken to one or two of their staff members and they felt we should have won the game as well. It is down to the players, people talk about us being part-time and people have written us off and they expect us to finish bottom of the league but I genuinely believe we have a group of players who are good enough to compete in this league and in the games we have played up till now barring the Ross County game at the start, I think we have been in every game, we conceded a late goal against Ross County but Ross County were the better team on the day and deserved to win the game, Morton here there were nothing between us, Inverness last Saturday we get a draw again not a great deal between the teams and today I felt we were the better team, and I’m not being disrespectful to Dundee United, I think they are a good side they have some very good players but over the whole piece we were camped in their half in the second half and the opening twenty minutes, they were hanging on at the end a wee bit in the last couple of minutes but that is just natural because we all know how valuable points are in this league. We hit the crossbar, worked their keeper a number of times in the second half, my only frustration is when we get into good areas in the final third of the pitch we need to show a little bit more quality with our final ball and be more clinical in front of goal.

Nobody can question our character, last Saturday at Inverness after going down to ten men and again today going behind when we were on top, it would be easy to think it is just not going to be our day, especially today having been on top for so long. I think that is the killer thing being a player, when you have dominated the game and just can’t buy a goal then the opposition go and score with a set piece. We did a lot of work during the week because Dundee United are a very big side, they clearly work hard on their set plays, any free kick from a wide area or a corner, their four big lads are coming up from the back and that’s Paul Watson scored three goals in his last two games all from set plays. They are very good at that and we are not the biggest of teams and it is a concern at the moment it is something to us that has been happening to often. I don’t mind if teams cut us open and score a great goal like the boy Chris Millar for Morton you have to hold your hands up and pat them on the back but we are gifting teams goals at the moment.

What a fantastic goal from Iain Flannigan, if there is a man you want to stand over a pressure moment in the game it is “Flanny”, he did the same with the late penalty at Inverness and today the quality he has to get the free kick up and over the wall into the top corner, the goalkeeper had no chance and he had already hit the crossbar a few minutes before that. I should be more satisfied with the point, before the game if you had offered me the draw I probably would have took it but looking back at the game and thinking about the chances we had the amount of possession we had I really genuinely feel as if its two points dropped.

It’s great to have options now in the squad for far too long in pre season and the opening part of this season we have had only 14 players in the squad and it was important that we strengthened the squad in those areas and we now have great options off the bench, the hard part now is picking an eleven because you know you are going to disappoint players very week, there are players on the bench who didn’t get on today and I know they will be disappointed but they have to stay strong and stick with the group because I now have options to change formations and it’s a good place for a manager to be. There needs to be competition for places anyway, nobody should be guaranteed a place in the team and the guys that are in the team need to know that if they drop below par there is somebody waiting in the wings to take their place.