Competition: Scottish Cup
Alloa Athletic v Inverness CT
Scottish Cup days are always special and this tie against Inverness Caledonian Thistle was to turn out a five goal thriller, with end to end football but unfortunately in cup ties there can only be one winner and a late goal from Charlie Trafford was enough to see John Robertson’s men grab the all important winner, which to be fair could have went either way.
The Wasps came back twice from going behind with Inverness taking an early lead after only 8 minutes. Ten minutes later however Kevin O’Hara headed home at the near post to score the first equaliser.
For the neutral it was a great cup tie with action at each end, Kevin O’Hara so nearly put “The Wasps” in front but his effort just went past the post. Liam Buchanan was next to watch Inverness keeper Mark ridgers pull off a wonderful save to stop him scoring early in the second half.
Just after the hour mark Jordan White, who has been a thorn in the flesh of Alloa before put Inverness back in front. Peter Grant then introduced both new loan signing Lee Connelly for Liam Buchanan and Robert Thomson for Adam Brown who looked to have picked up an injury, both players made an impact coming on from the bench. Lee Connelly broke down the left wing and crossed for Kevin O’Hara to score his ninth goal of the season and his second goal of the game to draw level at 2-2.
At this stage in the game it would be difficult to choose a winner with little between the sides other than physicality with the highlanders always looking a threat in the air. Four minutes from the end when a draw looked more likely Charlie Trafford was to head home inside the Alloa box and knock “The Wasps” out of the cup.
In the final five or six minutes Alloa threw everything at the Inverness goal but it stood firm. It had been a cup tie which went to the last kick of the ball but Alloa disappointed in getting nothing for their effort.
We now get back to Ladbrokes SPFL Championship action on Tuesday night when we will face Arbroath at the Indodrill Stadium in a massive game for the club.
peter grant after scottish cup exit
Obviously disappointed to go out of the cup, we got ourselves back into the game at 2-2 and in general in the game we were always in it, people keep telling me about the saves Jamie MacDonald makes but Mark Ridgers had a couple of wonder saves today. As a result I think it is an unfair result to be honest with you but that is what football is it is never kind to you and we have found it difficult to beat Inverness this season, they are a big side and sometimes when you are six foot plus and they are a big side not just one or two off their players over six foot, it makes it difficult to pick them up all the time but we have to be better on the second ball, we have a habit of watching the ball on the first header and I think that’s what cost us late at the end today.
Another two great goals by Kevin O’Hara and that’s why we are delighted to keep him, I think that was very important for us, but you have to give credit to Robert Thomson who came on and did well as did young Lee Connelly who came on for his debut. We had guys out there who hadn’t trained for a while giving everything that they have got and sometimes maybe the fatigue causes the concentration levels at times to fall, these guys are working every day of their lives and sometimes fatigue kicks in and I genuinely think that can happen and I think that’s what happened at the set play, if you don’t win the first ball you definitely need to win the second.
The Scottish Cup is so special everybody loves to be involved in it, it is a great platform for any professional footballer to try and go as far as you can, you always want to put yourself out their when people come to watch Scottish Cup ties that’s what it is all about and that’s why we are disappointed to have went out of the completion.
The boys will now have to pick themselves up and go again on Tuesday night, every game for us now between now and the end of the season is big but this game is massive there is no way of getting away from that, there is not one bigger than the other and I keep going back and people will laugh, on the last day of last season three teams could have went down and yes we know we will be fighting right till the death. Hopefully we will keep trying to get bodies in to add to the squad but it is very difficult because of the financials, not what we are offering but just to get them here – to pay them, stay in hotels whatever, the part we are part-time. Its different if you are full-time you can bring them in and keep them all week, we have to get them here, take them back down the road and bring them here and it works out too expensive and we cannot pay premier league wages that is just impossible for us but we are trying. I have a great group of boys here but it is just having them all fully fit, we will try to get another one or two in but then we have an opportunity to do ourselves justice.
 
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Elgin City v Alloa Athletic
“The Wasps” progressed to the 4th Round of this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup after a 3-1 victory against Elgin City at Borough Briggs, the sides meeting for the first time in the competition.
Alloa started brightly with Kevin Cawley and Liam Dick forcing the home keeper into early action, however it was the home side who took the lead after 26 minutes when Kane Hester put in Rory MacEwan who fired low into the net.
Gavin Price’s side who are on a rich vein of form took heart from taking the lead and Alloa goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald did well on a couple of occasions to stop the home side increasing their lead.
However in the second half “The Wasps” got the important early goal and an equaliser, Kevin O’Hara’s initial effort was parried by Tom McHale but Scott Taggart smashed home the loose ball. The tide had turned now and it was no surprise when Kevin Cawley put “The Wasps” ahead just before the hour.
At this stage it was more or less one way traffic and Alan Trouten looked certain to score, but his effort was blocked by home keeper Tom McHale but the alert Kevin O’Hara was on hand to win the tie for “The Wasps”.
peter grant after scottish cup victory at elgin
I thought we played a lot of good stuff in the first half but without really hurting the opposition, we had said we didn’t want to give Elgin a start and then lost a bad goal and Jamie then had to pull off a good save after that, which gave them a lift from our errors in the first half. We have to give Jamie credit because he pulled off a couple of good saves at crucial times.
We dominated a lot of the ball but we knew how difficult it would be because Elgin City have been on a great run of form, I have watched them a few times and they are a credit to their league the way they play and they have very good players who can hurt you, we always knew we were in a difficult game, but cup ties are all about winning and I was delighted the way we responded and played in the second half and deserved our victory.
In the second half we got the important early goal and never looked back, we gave Liam Dick the first hour after coming back from injury and that was important because Blair Malcolm done his ankle the other night in training. Young Nathan Gilhooly came on to give him more first team action, he has been training really well and deserved his run out.
I was pleased all round I thought there was a lot of good stuff, yes there are things we still need to get better at we always know that, but I don’t think anybody could argue about the result and the main thing was to be in the draw for the next round.
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St Mirren v Alloa Athletic
This was a game we were in touching distance of achieving our goal in getting into the next round of the William Hill Scottish Cup but any game at 2-0 it is a dangerous scoreline with the next goal so important and on this ocassion a costly error was to let St. Mirren back into a match most people in the Stadium had thought beyond them. We had competed well and looked to have one foot in the next round until the mistake.
St. Mirren came closest to scoring first when Brad Lyons who was making his debut headed against the crossbar. however it was that man Alan Trouten who opened the scoring his 16th goal of the season and 4th in last three matches. Three minutes later things got worse for the home side when Brad Lyons who already been booked for a bad tackle was sent off after receiving his second booking of the game this time for simulation.
With St. Mirren reduced to ten men “The Wasps” started to stroke the ball around and increased their lead on 33 minutes when Kevin Cawley scored from 20 yards, a scoreline which did not flatter the visitors.
At half-time their was not much optimism within the home support but goals change games and the crucial third goal in the game did not come from the visitors. The best chance at the start of the second half came to Dario Zanatta who did brilliant on the left wing but his final shoot struck the base of the post, a goal then would have won the tie.
Alloa actually had the best chances in the match but we needed to keep it going, St. Mirren had others ideas, with nothing to lose threw everything forward. The turning point in the game came in the 67th minute when Simeon Jackson’s speculative shot was spilled by Neil Parry and substitute Cody Cooke was first to react and poked the ball home and the start of the comeback. With only five minutes St. mirren got their equaliser when Ethan Erhahon tapped home after Stephen McGinn had created the opening. If this wasn’t bad enough, two minutes later Kyle McAllister shot home the winner with a fantastic strike.
Jim Goodwin, his players and the Alloa support were gutted, this was a game they did not desreve to lose but credit to St. Mirren for keeping believing.
Prior to the defeat in the Scottish Cup, “The Wasps” had went six games undefeated, but now face games against the top two teams in the SPFL Championship in the next fortnight which will be very difficult and far more important. We need to concentrate on gaining more league points to carry on our fantastic season, but make no mistake we went to Paisley believing we could win!
jim goodwin after cup exit
I’m feeling gutted after that, I thought the boys were excellent in the first half, everything went as planned on what we had worked on and I couldn’t have been any happier at half-time. The second half I think I’ve tried to be too clever at half-time, I tried to change our tactics a wee bit, we knew St. Mirren would commit a lot of bodies forward and I felt we could hit them on the counter attack. It didn’t work out as we had hoped, I’ve enjoyed a lot of good plaudits in the last two or three months but today I need to take responsibility for that in the second half.
Goals change games obviously but in hindsight I look at it now and think just keep doing what you are doing, I tried to be too clever at half-time, I knew they would commit bodies forward they were as well losing 5-0 as 2-0, but we needed to be a bit more patient on the ball and invited them out we might have exploited the space in behind with Kevin, Connor & Dario but it didn’t pan out as I had hoped.
The boys are a great bunch anything I ask them to do they do it and I had said to them before the game let’s not come here and not give a good account of ourselves and I think they done that in the first half, we deserved to be in front, we worked their keeper quite a bit in the first half and everything went according to plan. As I said I have enjoyed some good press recently and the players did what I asked them to do at half-time unfortunately it hasn’t worked and I have to take responsibility as manager.
Yes there was an error for their first goal getting back into the game but Neil Parry is one of the best keepers outside the Premier League I think, it was just one of them moments, he had not had a lot to do probably just a wee lapse of concentration and St. Mirren were the first players to react and that allowed St. Mirren to get their noses up a wee bit, but we could do a lot better with the goals we lost. We knew Kyle McAllister would like to come inside on his left foot, he plays a great ball to McGinn leaving a tap in and the winning goal, again we need to force him down the outside but it was a great strike from Kyle, so full credit to St. Mirren for not throwing the towel in and I have no doubt Oran will be very proud of his players but it will take me a few days to get over this result for sure.
You have to learn but it is an expensive one and a costly one, I’ve been quite lucky up till now in terms of the majority of the decisions I have made, they have been the right ones and good ones – but in my head at half-time I just felt that St. Mirren would commit a number of bodies forward, which they did, I just think we didn’t hit them well enough on the break, I don’t think we put enough passes together and we were probably a little complacent in possession but it goes back to the message I gave the players and the message I gave to the players at half-time was the wrong one, so I am disappointed in myself for that.
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Alloa Athletic v Brechin City
This was one of “The Wasps” best displays of the season against a Brechin City side who never really troubled Jim Goodwin’s team on the day. Brechin with ex Alloa Athletic manager Barry Smith recently taking over the job a fortnight ago might have a bigger job on his hands than he might have believed. The biggest surprise was the breakthrough took so long, but after Dario Zanatta put “The Wasps” in front just after the half hour there only looked one winner.
The home side were creating numerous opportunities and were playing some of their best football of the season, stroking the ball about with confidence and using good injections of pace. The second goal early in he second half saw Greig Spence get back on the scoresheet, surprisingly having not found the net since the opening Betfred Cup game of the season on 17th July v. arbroath won he scored twice in 4-2 victory.
Two minutes later it was 3-0 after one of the best moves of the game and fitting Alan Trouten should be on hand to score his tenth goal of the season. The assuredness of the victory was evident but the scoreline could have been so much more.
With the game effectively won manager Jim Goodwin took the opportunity to bring on all three substitutes from the bench to give them a run out and all three Ahmed Aloulou, Liam Burt and Connor Shields all contributed to the victory and helped to create even more chances.
jim goodwin after victory in the scottish cup
When the draw came out we knew it was the potential to be a bit of a banana skin, Brechin City are a decent team, I know they have had an up and down couple of weeks beating Forfar Athletic 4-0 and then losing heavily last week to Arbroath. I thought my players managed the game brilliantly with a very professional performance from start to finish, we knew we would have a lot of the ball and I thought we moved the ball really well at times in games like that you can drop the tempo and it gets a bit slow and mundane but the players never allowed that to happen and we kept passing and probing and looking for the right opportunities to get forward. The game finished 3-0 and we are delighted with that but I thought we could have had other three or four goals on top of that. A clean sheet, plenty of goals and a decent performance for the fans as well, so all round a decent day.
We played to our strengths today, getting the ball down and passing it about, the pleasing thing for me today is we did this for the majority of the game and had 75% of the possession which we expected, but I was more satisfied of what we did with it and the amount of opportunities we created. At 1-0 at half-time Brechin City were always in the game but it was pleasing we went out and got the second goal so early on in the second half and the game then became a little more comfortable.
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Alloa Athletic v Dundee United
The Wasps can be proud of their displays against Dundee United for the second time this season in cup competions, but again it was to be “What might have been”. Alloa started the game on the front foot and should have went ahead in the opening minute, when the returning Jordan Kirkpatrick on loan from St. Mirren volleyed over the bar in great position inside the box.
Back came “The Wasps” who were pushing forward and putting United under pressure, Iain Flannigan went close, Kevin Cawley was unfortunate to lose out when ball stuck between his legs and Jordan Kirkpatrick then was denied by a point blank save by Harry Lewis.
Alloa Athletic needed to get the first goal which few in the Stadium would have argued they didn’t deserve, but fell behind a minute before half-time when Mark Durnan headed home at the back post to the relief of the travelling Dundee United support.
Jim Goodwin’s men were always in the tie and pushed forward at every opportunity, Scott Taggart being a constant threat on the right side of the park.
United were an improved side in the second half and had a lot of the possession but did not trouble Neil Parry in the Alloa goal. However after 62 minutes their new Danish striker Emil Lyng scored his first goal for the club with a huge slice of fortune as his shot deflected off Callum Crane and went over keeper Neil Parry’s head, it was not to be Alloa’s day.
With time running out, “The Wasps” looked to have a good penalty appeal when United defender Jamie Robson appeared to bring down Kevin Cawley inside the box.
JIM GOODWIN AFTER SCOTTISH CUP EXIT
Up until losing the goal on the stroke of half-half, I thought we had done great; the game plan was working to a T. We nearly got off to the dream start when Jordan Kirkpatrick almost notched one in from a couple of yards out. I’m really proud of the players to be honest with you they gave absolutely everything; I thought they made it very difficult for Dundee United this afternoon and our team talk was all geared up for coming in at half-time at 0-0. The set play was disappointing; we are normally very good defensively at them but Andy Graham gets blocked in the build up to it and that’s why Mark Durnan ends up with a free header at the back post.
We never lost belief it was all very positive at half-time, I felt we were comfortable, although we were allowing Dundee United to build from the back we felt we were closing all the gaps for them, they had a lot of possession but it was mainly in front of us. Neil Parry up until the corner kick, I think he had one save from a free kick and even in the second half he made one good save with his feet other than that they scored from a corner in the last minute of the first half and scored a deflected goal for the second. We are disappointed because I really felt it was a good opportunity for us today, Dundee United were coming into the game not on a great run of form, so we felt if we got at them and pressed them high up the pitch then we could possibly make it a nervy afternoon for them, if we had got that first goal I would like to have seen how the game would have went then.
Dundee United are a good side they have some very good players with good experience as well, I have to give them credit for the way they try to play, they very rarely play long balls and look to play out from the back, but the bottom line is Dundee United are in the hat for the next round and we are not so good luck to them.
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Stenhousemuir v Alloa Athletic
The Wasps progressed into the draw for the William Hill Scottish Cup 4th Round draw which will take place at 4.45pm Live on Sky News tomorrow, Alloa will be Ball number 3. However it took a second half comeback to progress against local rivals Stenhousemuir at Ochilview on Saturday. The home side took the lead after 27 minutes when Nicki Paterson was on hand to score his first goal for “The Warriors”
The home side had started brighter and deserved their lead, Craig Malcolm did come close minutes later when his header came back off the crossbar but Stenhousemuir were the better side in the first half and came close to adding a second when ex Wasp Jamie Longworth tapped home only to be flagged offside.
Jim Goodwin’s side started the second half more positively and after five minutes were level, Steven Hetherington’s cross found the alert Craig Malcolm who beat the keeper to score the equalising goal 1-1.
This was “The Wasps” best spell in the game and Craig Malcolm doubled his tally in the game, his fourth goal four matches, when again he beat home keeper Chris Smith and fired high into the net to give “The Wasps” the lead.
The last time the teams had met in the Scottish Cup was back in season 2004/05 when goals from Andy Brown & Richard Walker had gave “The Wasps” at 2-1 victory which was again to be the scoreline on this occasion.
Kevin Cawley might have increased the margin of the victory but was denied his 50th goal for the club on this occasion. Stenhousemuir ended the game strongly and made sure “The Wasps” did not enjoy an easy passage into the next round, Brown Ferguson’s team would feel unfortunate they did not get an equalising goal as “The Wasps” progressed to the next round, ties scheduled for 20th & 21st January, 2018.
jim goodwin after cup victory over stenny
We always knew today was going to be a difficult match and that’s exactly how it turned out, we gave Stenhousemuir the respect we felt they deserved, obviously they have been doing very well in their own league you can see they have some very good footballers in their team, but I have to say I was disappointed with the way we started and I thought we just let the first half pass us by, that’s taking nothing away from Stenhousemuir who were the better team in the first half, but I thought in the second half we were the better team, I felt we were the team on the ascendancy although they finished the game strongly, they put bodies up front and created one or two chances. We rode our luck at times today, we definitely did, but it’s a cup tie at the end of the day and all that matters is being in the hat on Monday.
Great for Craig Malcolm to get his two goals today, that’s four goals in last four games for him, it was always going to be difficult for us to replace Greig Spence at the end of last season, we had identified Craig Malcolm long before the end of last season as he had scored a number of goals for Stranraer. Unfortunately for us he picked up an injury in the Betfred Cup Tie against Ross County in the opening game of this season and it took him a wee while to get over that and then when he did come back in takes weeks to get fit again, these things don’t happen overnight but now you are starting to see the Craig Malcolm which attracted us to bring him to the club. He is in the right place more often than not, I thought his first goal in particular he was really brave to put himself in there and get the touch that he did from a great ball from Stevie Hetherington, and the second goal is a fantastic delivery from Iain Flannigan, it was all about the delivery we had great quality coming into the box and again Craig was in the right place.
Stenhousemuir will be disappointed, I thought Brown Ferguson’s team were excellent and the game could have went either way, I’m just grateful it went our way.
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Alloa Athletic v Dunfermline Athletic
The Wasps hopes of progressing in this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup looked to be dashed after going 3-0 behind early in the second half to SPFL Championship side Dunfermline Athletic, however once again Jim Goodwin’s men fought back to 3-2 after Greig Spence scored his 18th goal of the season for a tense finish with hopes of a reply which looked unlikey earlier in the match. Alloa’s last opportunity fell to captain Graeme Holmes, who had been outstanding in midfield, his net bound shot however in injury time struck Dunferline Athletic player Nat Wedderburn and was cleared upfield and “The Pars” progressed to the fifth round where they will now meet Hamilton Accies.
Both Alloa Athletic’s recent signing Frank McKeown and substitute Stefan McCluskey can be pleased with their contribution – Stefan McCluskey scoring on his debut and Frank McKeown being named sponsors “Man of the Match”.
Special mention must also go the Kevin Cawley who made his 200th first team appearance for the club in a game once again he gave everything.
jim goodwin after scottish cup defeat
We are disappointed, we knew the kind of threat Dunfermline would have, we spoke about during the week how dangerous they are on the break, it was quite an end to end game but goals change games. It’s an old cliché again – the first goal was disappointing, Gavin Reilly gets the space to run, Neil Parry makes a great save but unfortunately it falls out to Nicky Clark who managed to tuck it away, losing the second goal right on half-time was a bit of a killer blow. Two nil down at half-time we talked about the next goal being important to get back in the game but if Dunfermline were to get it, it would be an uphill task, from their point of view Gavin Reilly did well and Joe Cardle made a great run of him and it was a hell of a strike, nothing you could do with that one.
As always this team has shown in past weeks when we go behind they never give in and they deserve a lot of credit for keeping going right to the end, we scored a couple of half decent goals ourselves but unfortunately ran out of time at the end. You hope when you make substitutions they can make an impact and Stefan had a positive impact, when you sign players you hope that they do well and Frank McKeown out other new signing, goes and gets “Man of the Match” and Stefan comes on and scores so that’s the impact we are hoping from the new signings, just disappointed for them that they weren’t on the winning side in the game.
The cup competitions are great and we have already been to two Quarter-Finals this season we would have liked to go a bit further, we fancied ourselves when the draw was made but credit to Dunfermline and we wish them well in the next round now our made focus is on the league which was our sole ambition at the start of this season we want to get out of this league by hook or by crook.
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Peterhead v Alloa Athletic
Manager Jim Goodwin was delighted see his side move into the fourth round of this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup after defeating Peterhead 1-0 in a very tricky tie at Balmoor Stadium on Saturday. This was the third time the sides had met in the Scottish Cup and it was a hat-trick of victories for “The Wasps” having previously beaten “The Blue Toon” in Season 1997/98 & 1969/70.
Both managers will look back on chances in the game, with a single strike from Jamie Longworth the difference between the teams. Iain Flannigan & Greig Spence could have given “The Wasps” the lead in the first half but at times Neil Parry did well to keep the home side out, his tenth shut out of the season made sure Alloa progressed to the fouth round draw to be made on MOnday evening at 6.35pm at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, marking their celebration of winning the trophy 20 years ago at Ibrox in Season 1996/97.
jims comments after cup victory
I was delighted with the effort and commitment as always from the lads. It was a very end to end game and one i’m sure would have been enjoyable from a neutral point of view. We caused a few of our own problems in the first half which allowed Peterhead a couple of opportunities but thankfully we were able to recover in time and make the appropriate blocks and tackles to allow us to hang on to another clean sheet. I think that’s ten for the season now.
Neill Parry was outstanding again with another two very important saves at key moments in the game and Ryan Hoggan was excellent too, he never put a foot wrong the whole game and was very assured at left sided centre half of a back three. Jamie Longworth deserves special mention too, whenever you make a change as manager you hope it will have a positive impact and Jammer certainly done that for us saturday. He took his goal very well.
We had a number of good opportunities throughout the game and with a little bit more composure we could have scored a few more
Overall I was delighted with the performance and result. It was always going to be a difficult tie, but the team stood up to everything Peterhead threw at them and managed to ensure our place in the next round of the cup.
We are all looking forward to the draw and are hoping this will be the start of another memorable cup run.
With regards to the Stranraer game being postponed, we are disappointed of course but at the same time it allows a few of our injured boys a little more time to recover.
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Dumbarton v Alloa Athletic
paddy connolly after scottish cup defeat
A very tough night, we tried to go toe to toe with them but after only 19 seconds we were a goal down, I hadn’t even settled in the dugout – It is certainly had to take positives from tonight’s game, I thought the second half for 25-30 minutes I thought we did alright but it is hard for me to come out and try and defend, some of our defending after a five goal drubbing, so somehow we need to pick the players up on Thursday at training and take it from there, I will speak to the Chairman tomorrow, to see if there is anything happening and where we are for the weekend.
We need to dig deep now and maybe need to tweak things a bit, the game was too open and it never worked for us tonight, so we need to pick them up at training on Thursday, their a resilient bunch, results have not been great. It is hard to see what reaction there has been after Danny’s departure as it only happened last night and I only met up with the players tonight for the game but the mood in the dressing room is certainly not good now after the game, we lost our shape in the end, big Mikk made a poor mistake but all the goals were poor goals to lose, four of them were counter attack goals because we were too open, it was a cup tie so we went for it in the second half and had numerous chances and were punished latterly for pushing forward, which was sore.
Robbie Crawford felt his calf and Michael Chopra we hope is only a precaution, as hadn’t trained during last week we took a bit of a gamble with him tonight and it never really worked, we will need to reassess the injury again on Thursday.
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