Season: 2008-09

Alloa Athletic v Stirling Albion

Alloa Athletic yesterday extended their recent good home record to three home wins in a row and at the same time gave manager Allan Maitland his first win in a local derby against Stirling Albion since joining the club in January, 2006. Alloa Athletic players and management looked to want yesterday’s victory more than their counterparts from Stirling and played with great energy and passion. It was a game of football the fans had plenty to shout about, Alloa deservedly went ahead through Jamie Stevenson in the 21st minute, however the game came alive in the second half when Alloa raced to a 3-0 lead and many Stirling Albion fans left the ground prior to Martin Grehan pulling a goal back for the visitors on 63 mins. Man of the match Brown Ferguson restored Alloa’s three goal cushion after 75 minutes from the penalty spot, but three minutes later a deflected Liam Corr shot gave Stirling Albion an unlikely lifeline. Doubt was now in the Alloa minds for the first time in the match and when substitute Paul Murphy powered through with four minutes to go, Stirling Albion looked like they could snatch a draw as he made the score 4-3. Even after this both teams had further chances and at the end Alloa were delighted to hear the final whistle, in a game they deserved to win but in the end the scoreline was closer than many Stirling Albion fans would believe, especially the ones who left early.

 

allan maitland after derby victory

I felt we were a lot sharper today and started the match so much better than we have in recent weeks, I think that is the first game this season, in any competition that we have been ahead at half time so I think that probably tells its own story. We played well in the first half and probably deserved the lead. I thought the first 25minutes of the second half we were excellent and played at a tempo that caused them a real problem. They scored their goal which got them back into it when it looked as thought it was going to go 4 or 5 nothing. Once we scored the penalty we got a real grip of the game again, whether it was tiredness or the break they got for the second goal all of a sudden, Stirling had bodies pouring forward and this caused us a problem in the last 10 minutes when we were hanging on – we were pleased to hang on. I have to say I am not sure that 4-3 is a true reflection of the game, quite frankly if it had finished 4-0 I could not have been any more pleased, than I am now, I am just delighted to have won the game and I thought it was a great game of football and I hope the fans enjoyed it.

I thought in Brown Ferguson we had the outstanding player on the football park and hopefully we can now try and find some away form that matches our home form and if we can do that we should hopefully get ourselves further up the table a bit. We have struggled to create chances this season but today we decided to go with Jamie Stevenson and Andy Scott up front and try and get Kyle MacAulay to support as much as possible and I think the three of them were excellent, we had a lot of touches of the ball which helps and we tried to get the ball into their feet as much as possible or in behind their back four to try and get David Lowing and Andy Lawrie turning and I think we did that really well in the first half in particular.

The game was won in the fifteen minute spell in the second half, we came out in the second half and tried to get the game as quickly as possible at their end of the park, it was great runs from Brown Ferguson and his composure at the second goal setting it up for Kyle MacAulay which was the telling factor in the game, and having got the second goal the third one came quite quickly, it was a great game of football, a good result for us and finally pleased to have won a local derby, there was a lot of injuries and we had to shuffle things about, Dougie Hill is beginning to play like the player I hoped he would be and in Brown Ferguson, Jamie Stevenson, Andy Scott and Kyle MacAulay we had so many good players today. That is the way I would like us to play and that is the way I thought we would play this season but we have been too open, losing far too many goals and to be fair we lost three again today.

We have lost too many goals this season because I’ve tried to get as many football players on the park as possible. In the last few weeks we have reverted to trying to be hard to beat and trying to get the ball played more in the opposition end of the park. Good players help and when you win a couple of games the confidence goes up, and when players are confident the things they try start to come off, I also have been encouraging the midfield players to get into the box as often as possible and the number of times we had players crossing the ball today for players coming into the box, we could and should have scored more goals. The things that we have been working on are coming to fruition for us but six games played away from home and six defeats tells its own story, that’s what we need to address now, we have done great today but we will have a really hard game at Stranraer next week and we need to find some away form that is going to help us move up the league a bit more. More of the same next week would be good but just now I would settle for a 1-0 victory for us with any type of goal.
4 - 3
Full Time

Raith Rovers v Alloa Athletic

Andy Scott scored a magnificent goal against Raith Rovers on Saturday at Kirkcaldy, only to be cancelled out a minute later when Fraser Forrest handled the ball, giving the home side the chance to draw level. The Wasps had looked to take something from the game but found Gary Wales, Kevin Smith and Graham Weir in sparkling form. Raith Rovers are a good side and moved to the top of the League after Saturdays 4-1 victory, we must continue to focus on each game and the next three games are all important games which we will look to take something from, no better game to look forward to than a local derby against our closest rivals, Stirling Albion. The players are all fully aware of just how big a game next Saturday’s game is, and are looking forward to the game. Having won our last two home matches we will be looking to keep that going and look forward to building on the confidence of winning at home again.

 

allan maitland after raith rovers defeat

We came up against a very good Raith Rovers side today, the tempo off the game was obviously played at a tempo they wanted, they banged it forward as quickly as they possibly could, they got plenty of support, we didn’t deal with enough of the first balls well enough, I thought their front three caused us problems throughout, but having said that, I thought we started the game well and scored an absolute magnificent goal, but having done that it is really important that we hold the lead for a length of time and the penalty we gave away was inexcusable, there was no need for it, the ball played against his hand when there was nobody within ten yards of him, so that allows Raith Rovers a break which they probably didn’t need at this stage, It was a penalty I have no qualms about it, then they got a break at the second goal, somebody shoots, we block it and it falls straight to Mark Ferry who finishes it fantastically well. They were just sharper and better than us simple as that, on the day they were just better that us, they have a lot of confidence and you can see why they are sitting top of the league, they have loads of good players playing well, the front three caused us problems throughout and I think we contributed to our own downfall – with the penalty kick, we didn’t defend the second goal well enough and you know I’m going to have a go about referee’s – I just feel that when you come to places like Kirkcaldy, it is really important that you manage to stop to momentum of the game coming towards your end of the park all the time and I don’t think that happened because we were going up for headers, the front three who were not going to win the ball at that stage are constantly jumping into you and the ball is never getting cleared from our end of the park, we don’t clear it properly the momentum of the game is constantly at our end of the park, but that is an observation more than anything else. It is difficult for the referee as it is, the crowd are loud, they claim for free kicks, Graham Weir likes to go down for the free kicks, they obviously get them and that causes a problem, but no qualms that the better team won and we have a long way to go before we can reach Raith Rovers standard at the moment. Our start to the season has been so bad that our away form must improve rapidly – we have Stirling Albion at home next week, Stranraer the following week away and Queen’s Park at home the following week and it’s really important for our season that we start to win these games. When we go to Kirkcaldy or even Brechin, you could argue these are games at the moment we are not capable of winning, our confidence isn’t high enough but we have to make sure we get something from these next three games, our away form is horrendous but we need to address that.
4 - 1
Full Time

Alloa Athletic v Peterhead

On Saturday Alloa Athletic defeated Neale Cooper’s Peterhead side 1-0 in a game played in dreadful conditions at Recreation Park, the driving rain and gale force wind made the game difficult for the players and difficult to enjoy for the 331 spectators who endured the conditions. However two back to back victories have now seen the team move off the bottom of the division and have now moved up to eighth, lets hope that this is a positive sign and the team are now on road to recovery. Although Alloa won the game 1-0 their only fault on the day was not scoring more goals, such was their dominance. John Grant had a great chance in the first half but drove over the bar, then Dougie Hill when on a solo run and his rocket shot was pushed over the bat by Michal Kula. The goalkeeper pulled off another outstanding save a minute into the second period, diving down to save a rocket from former Peterhead youngster Kyle Macaulay. However, the Wasps did find the net with the only goal in 68 minutes. Sean Fleming attempted to head clear in the box but Grant pounced to drive into the net from 12 yards. Macaulay could have added a second, but after moving in for a cross by Andy Scott, he shot wide of the right post.

 

allan maitland after peterhead win

Obviously it was a day when the weather was going to have a huge influence on the game, but we have waited a long while to see our team being professional and today I thought for the first time this season we were professional – we deserved to win. I thought for the whole ninety minutes it is probably the best we have played continuously, our concentration level was high, professionalism was good, when we had to stop the game I thought we stopped it quite well.

The only criticism is the fact we could have scored more goals. We had a great chance in the first half when John Grant knocked ball over the bar and later Kyle MacAulay in the second half could have settled the game, and the two young boys at the end also could have scored. Our goalkeeper was required to make one save and he did it, we defended well throughout and I think to be fair to Peterhead they are just in a situation at the moment where we were maybe three or four weeks ago when things are just not breaking for them at the moment, the ball in the box was constantly breaking for us, we were maybe just getting the bounce of the ball that we needed but confidence and good luck always comes when you work really hard – our team have been working hard in the last two or three weeks to get this right – it makes a change to pick up a Sunday paper and read what the press has to say. I will only know if we are really on a road to recovery after four or five games. Certainly we are pleased to have won the last two games and we will go to play Raith Rovers next Saturday with more confidence. On the down side Pat Scullion had to be substituted in the second half with a dead leg, while young Greig Spence signed an extention to his contract which has been extended till May, 2011.
1 - 0
Full Time

Alloa Athletic v Arbroath

“The Wasps” defeated Arbroath 2-1 at Recreation Park on Saturday, which moved the club of the bottom of the league and swapping places with John McGlashan’s side. Arbroath had the best of the first half and went ahead when Scott Gates crossed for David McGowan who had only signed for Arbroath on loan from Clyde that morning to score on his debut. However in the second half Alloa gradually began to get the upper hand. The equaliser came when Pat Scullion got to the bye line and crossed for Kyle MacAulay to score his third goal of the season. Alloa pushed forward looking for victory and Fraser Forrest scored a stunning winner, volleying home an Andy Scott cross for the match winner. Alloa might have had, which looked a stone wall penalty later in the game but the referee wasn’t interested.

 

allan maitland after arbroath victory

We are a team at the bottom of the league struggling with confidence and not playing well, we were looking for that first goal to give us a wee break, although there wasn’t much in the game, I thought Arbroath were better than us in the beginning of the game and deserved their lead, but the goal was just systematic of the mistakes we are making, getting caught on the ball on the half way line and not defending it properly.

I felt fortunate at half time to be only one down, and obviously made a change at half time, I didn’t think we held the ball up at all up front and changed that, we obviously had a problem at right back with Steven McKeown, David McClune and Scot Buist all injured we played Jamie Hay there, but that didn’t work, so that was my responsibility , but the changes definitely helped – Fraser coming on helped us, Francis Kelly struggled but again I made the change bringing on Graeme Brown for the final part of the game and he started playing like a centre forward should do, but I have to say Andy Scott and Kyle MacAulay made a big difference today, holding the ball up and playing the ball at the correct end of the park, Pat Scullion did fantastically well for us, setting up the first goal, while the second goal by Fraser Forrest was just unbelievable, I have never seen him do that , I fact I was sure he must of stooped down to header the thing, not volley it, it was a great goal and one we really needed. We needed a result, and I would have taken any type of victory today in the position we are just now, but I’m sure our second half performance merited the victory, although I’m sure Arbroath will feel aggrieved but for us all that matters is us starting to win games, so very pleased with that. I was pleased for Pat Scullion to win the man of the match award as well he has shown in the last couple of games that he is getting back to form that we know he is capable of, he played really well today, as did Andy Scott and Kyle MacAulay who could have contested the decision but overall much, much better.

We play Peterhead next week, it will be a difficult game but I’m hoping to get some players back from injury which should help – however Fraser Forrest took a knock on his knee which looks like he will be doubtful, we want to get back to a settled side which always help teams. What is important is that we take the confidence from today’s result into next weeks game and keep encouraging the players, talking about the positives from the game rather than talking too much about the first half of the game. We still do not have enough confidence in our play to take touches and look up and play passes, what we have to do is get the game played at their end of the park and go and support each other as quickly as possible. Not until you get ahead in games and score a second goal you might then settle down and play and prove how good we can be, but at the moment we don’t have that luxury. I expect Scot Buist and David McClune to be available for next Saturday, Jamie Stevenson might be available, but Steven McKeown and Dougie Wilson will be struggling.
2 - 1
Full Time

Brechin City v Alloa Athletic

As we are now at the end of the first quarter of the league season, it is disappointing for everyone at the club, management, directors , players and fans to see the club bottom of the division, a position no one expected after reaching the play off stages last season. However, like every football club, we are only as good as our last result and no team has a divine right to win. The team this season have picked up just four points in our opening nine league matches and are at the bottom of the league. This season we have found it difficult to score goals, with only ten goals from our opening nine league matches, five of which were scored in the one match, if we are not scoring goals it isn’t easy to win games. The team badly need a win to get their season back on track. On Saturday at Glebe Park we again had chances before Brechin City scored but could not find the net before Brechin City went ahead. The players put in a great effort at Glebe Park in driving rain and wind, but on the day Brechin City showed why they are top of the league. In Allan Maitland we have one of the best part time managers in the Scottish game with the knowledge and optimism which has helped move this club forward. Players do not become bad players overnight, but clearly they are badly in need of their next victory. Next Saturday we will have a break due to the International matches and then we have a home match against Arbroath. We need to work on improving our situation which is hurting many people just now, starting against Arbroath lets pull together and try to secure three vital league points.

 

allan maitland at glebe park

I think we were beaten by a good side today, we came up here being at the bottom of the league playing against the side at the top of the league and we wanted to make it difficult for them. I thought Brechin’s three goals were great goals and they played well, we have played a lot worse than that this season, I thought we were quite spirited and were unluckly with an effort early in the game when Craig Nelson, made a great save to parry a shot and then made a great save on the rebound from Graeme Brown, and even at 2-0 we had a couple of shots which just flashed the wrong side of the posts, but it is just not happening for us at the moment, we just have to keep working at it and hope it comes our way, but it is not difficult for to see why Brechin City are where they are, they have good movement, good strikers, plenty of support coming from the midfield of the park, so another disappointing day for us but I also felt we had a lot of people who gave their all today and maybe just a bit unfortunate to lose, John Grant was outstanding for us and it was good to have others back in the team, disappointing day but ultimately beaten on the day by a better team.
3 - 1
Full Time

Queen’s Park v Alloa Athletic

Today was another bad day for the club as they tried to get themselves away from the wrong end of the league table. Prior to the game at Hampden Park manager Allan Maitland lost the services of Graeme Brown, whose wife had given birth to a new baby daughter, Aryn and Kyle MacAulay, who missed the game due to influenza. However the team was in good spirit and were confident of securing the club’s first victory over Queen’s Park at Hampden Park since a 4-0 victory on 22nd March, 1997. Although the first half ended goalless, Alloa were on top but needed to convert one of their chances in front of goal. At the start of the second half Alloa began to turn the screw and were in complete dominance, Iain Campbell fired a 25 yard shot which the home keeper brilliantly tipped over the bar and minutes later he produced another fantastic double save when he pushed a Brown Ferguson piledriver on to the crossbar and managed to get the rebound to safety. The first goal in today’s match was always going to be important, but once again it was a bad decision which cost Alloa dearly. A quickly taken free kick by Alloa went badly wrong and before they could react they had been caught out by a Queen’s breakaway which ended with Paul Harkins having a rare shot on goal by the home side which gave them the lead. Queen’s took a great lift from the goal, but even after this Alloa had chances to draw level, if not win the game – Brown Ferguson went close, Francis Kelly failed in front of goal after a great cross from David McClune and Chris Townsley had another opportunity. Know one could fault the players for effort but to get ourselves out of the relegation area the players will need to start being a lot more clinical in front of goal.

 

allan maitland after queen’s park game

I think it’s a game that we have dominated for long spells, their first shot at goal was after 70 minutes and I think their only other shot at goal was actually their goal on 75 minutes. Their goalkeeper, who was named “Man of the Match” had two fantastic saves and it was only our inability to score when we have had opportunities, and this has again killed us. We have had the situation where we lose what I consider to be a bad goal, it’s just a simple thing, it was a free kick for us on the half way line – we made the wrong choice, and then having made the wrong choices we needed to stop the game, we don’t do that and Queens break up the park and score. From their two shots at goal they score and for all our efforts at goal we cannot score. That for me is a situation that leads you into a relegation dog fight. At the moment, after eight games and only four points that is exactly where we are and that is what I am telling the players now – they can forget all about their aspirations of winning leagues or whatever else and we have to consider going to Brechin and start taking points wherever we can, if we are not going to score goals we must make sure that other teams don’t score goals against us. I thought defensively we were good today, in the second half we created plenty of chances, but players need to do better. Their goal keeper pulled off two wonderful saves from Iain Campbell and Brown Ferguson at the start of the second half but we had other opportunities when Andy Ferguson and later in the game Francis Kelly and Chris Townsley had chances to score, we have to score at least one of them or possibly two of them as the case may be. It’s very difficult to take a defeat on a day like this and I don’t think Queen’s Park played well so our problem is we are playing against teams who play better than us and beat us. We are now playing against teams that don’t play better than us and they are beating us. We need to get a spark from somewhere that is going to change that. I expected us to win today and I think over the 90 minutes we did enough to win the game however, when you pick up the paper tomorrow it’s not going to say that Alloa won it will say we got beat yet again and are now sitting bottom of the league. I have tried various things to change with the personnel we have got but maybe the solution now is just to forget about trying to play football and the solution now is to become big, strong and physical and just batter away and see if we can win points. When you get an opportunity to take a point from a game you take it and when you get a chance to take all three points from a set piece, or be it a corner kick or free kick, maybe we do that until we get our season back up and running. We have tried everything else at the moment –we have tried to play as many flair players as we possibly can, we have had two wide players attacking today, we have got two strikers attacking and the midfield players supporting as much as they can and we still don’t score a goal so we need to look at maybe stop losing so many goals and see if we can sort it that way. Graeme Brown missed the game after the birth of his daughter Aryn, while Kyle MacAulay was at home after calling off with influenza.
1 - 0
Full Time

Alloa Athletic v East Fife

It was another bad day for “The Wasps” today as East Fife won 3-0 at Recreation Park with the help of two penalties. Alloa had looked to bounce back after last weeks derby defeat by Stirling Albion but at no time in a poor game were they in control. The games turning point was when Alloa Athletic were denied a penalty, after Dougie Wilson’s cross into the box was clearly handled by an East Fife defender. The following minute, East Fife were awarded their second penalty of the afternoon, when the far side linesman, claimed the ball had been handled by Scot Buist. Four points from a possible twenty one is a very poor start to the season and the players will need to rediscover their desire to win games, grinding out results at this stage of the season if that is what’s required.

 

allan maitland after east fife defeat

After an hour gone in the game neither goalkeeper has had a save to make yet we were down 2-0 because of two penalty kicks, for the first one, when the ball comes to the end of the box the player hand balls it and the referee said it was not deliberate and then the player goes down for a penalty kick so that’s a penalty. Willie McCulloch the East Fife keeper, comes out of his box and hand balls it, the referee decides that it was not deliberate either but even worse when we should have had a penalty kick, immediately before their second award, which was so obvious everybody in the ground could see the ball hitting the player’s hand but the referee accepts that the linesman decided it was not a penalty. The ball goes up the other end, and in a tackle the ball breaks and Scot Buist gets up, falls over the guy and the linesman decided he hand balled it, before you know it you are 2-0 down. Defensively we were much better today, the goal keeper has not had a save and struggling as we are at the bottom of the league what you try and do is tighten things up and then get a break somewhere in the game to go and win it 1-0 and then build from there. You can’t get breaks when referees are giving penalties for that and not giving you penalties for what is undoubtedly a penalty so before you know it, their game becomes really easy, they are sitting back, and they can pass the ball quite happily and then they score a third goal when we make a mistake.
0 - 3
Full Time

Stirling Albion v Alloa Athletic

In the eagerly awaited first derby match of the season against local rivals, Stirling Albion, Alloa Athletic continued their recent run of poor results against “The Albion” with manager Allan Maitland still seeking his first victory over the club’s biggest rivals. This was a game everyone at Recreation Park wanted to win and the side got off to the perfect start with a wonderful goal by ex Stirling Albion player Dougie Wilson who unleashed a 30 yard shot past Myles Hogarth to give “ The Wasps” the all important opening goal, but gradually Stirling Albion were having the lion’s share of possession and Andy Graham choose to have a shot at goal which took a huge deflection off the luckless Iain Campbell to wrong foot Raymond Jellema and give the home side an equaliser. Nine minutes later the Alloa defence stood watching as Stirling Albion passed their way around and into the box, before Ian Harty made it 2-1. Young Liam Corr made in 3-1 before Andy Ferguson give Alloa hope just before half-time making it 3-2 in a pulsating first half. Although Alloa had chances in the second half the fans had to endure another defeat by their local rivals, while Stirling Albion extended their unbeaten run against “The Wasps” to eight league games.

 

allan maitland on forthbank defeat

It was a very exciting first half I thought, a magnificent start to the game, obviously being a derby game we wanted play the game as a derby, thought we started really well in the game, a great goal by Dougie Wilson which gave us the perfect start, then for some reason, which certainly was not as discussed before the game, I felt we sat back and allowed Stirling Albion more and more of the ball and I thought our defending at all three goals was nothing short of diabolical, that’s the way it has been for us this season, we brought players into the club to make the side defensively better and it’s not happened for us. How many touches of the ball did Stirling Albion have in our box at the second goal, it was incredible. It was pass, pass, pass with three men all over the place, squared to the back post and a free shot at goal. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement, when we go away from home and score two goals I expect us to win the game, I thought offensively at times in the first half we were good, the second half when we were chasing the game we were obviously getting frustrated a lot which was all of our own doing, but when you are chasing the game and not getting advantages when the referee was pulling things back, its all these wee frustrations the same situation with the time wasting, but to be fair to the referee I think he did add on at the end , but we allowed all that to happen because we performed so poorly defensively and its been a major problem for us, I think we have good players on the park, we had everybody available , we should come to Forthbank and win, I cannot even start to express my disappointment that not winning that game today, but well done to Stirling Albion.
3 - 2
Full Time

Alloa Athletic v Stranraer

Allan Maitland was a happy man after “The Wasps” stormed back to win their first League game of the season, defeating the visitors, Stranraer 5-1 after the Stair Park side had edged in front. Although the first half ended goalless “The Wasps” had started brightly and should have been ahead in the first 20 minutes which they dominated, however after 27 minutes Stranraer had a great chance to go ahead when Chris Townsley fouled Kevin Nicholl in the box, ex Stirling Albion player Andy Gibson took the kicj but sent it high over the bar. Then on the stroke of half time Kevin Nicholl was red carded for a two footed challenge, again by the same referee, Steven McLean who had red carded Steven McKeown at Dunfermline in midweek. Stranraer took the lead, when their best player Gregory Tade scored his fourth goal of the season. This appeared to wake up the home side and after efforts had been cleared off the line and come back from the post Kyle MacAulay got the deserved equaliser in 57 minutes, Scot Buist headed home in 62 minutes and a minute later Graeme brown made it 3-1. Kyle MacAulay increased the lead to 4-1 with a diving header in 65 minutes, which was four goals in eight minutes. Andy Ferguson, although not getting on the scoresheet on this occasion was excellent and let’s hope he can stay injury free. Ten minutes from the end Andy Scott made it 5-1 with a shot which took at least two deflections, it had been a good day for “The Wasps”.

 

allan maitland after stranraer game

Strange game I thought – I thought we started the game really well in the first 15-20 minutes, we had two or three good chances to score, didn’t score and that I had to say I thought the last 25 minutes of the first half Stranraer got a hold of the ball in our half and played well and deserved their penalty kick which went over the bar and we got a break from that. The sending off, I thought initially looked a bit soft but the player having gone for the second one as well, which I thought was stupid, I thought he forced the referee’s hand, similar to Steven McKeown’s sending off at Dunfermline on Tuesday night, and it was a sending off today as well, if you are going to tackle with two feet you must expect it. In the second half again we were very slow at starting and Stranraer scored a very good goal, although it was poor defending by us, and at that stage I thought we were very flat and out of the blue we scored a goal and the lift that gave us you could see right away, it gave us a huge lift and then after that I thought we played really well for about 20 minutes, I thought Andy Ferguson was outstanding and that made all the difference to our game, obviously we rattled in 4 goals very quickly and the game was dead at that stage – you don’t have to look far to see where Stranraer’s problems are – I think with everything that is happening to them just now as soon as they went behind you could see them losing heart and obviously down to ten men it becomes a really difficult time for them and obviously you feel for them. From our point of view we needed to win we cannot afford to feel for them until after the game – I am obviously delighted to have won the game especially with the international break coming up – it gives us two weeks to get the injured players fit and ready to play. Fraser Forrest, David McClune and Jamie Stevenson – it was absolutely vital for us to win today and not get isolated at the bottom of the league – I expect all three of them to be ready for the Stirling Albion game – we are getting there slowly but surely. In my head before today’s game I was thinking it’s a game we cannot afford to loose, if we are going to have any realistic hope of ending in a play off slot or doing better than that we need to make sure we are in the mix come the end of the season and beating teams like Stranraer or Arbroath for that matter – we lost one 4-1 and won the other 5-1. When we are at home we must make sure we win these games. As I said we are pleased to win it and now I can genuinely say that my sympathies are with Stranraer in their situation but for the whole 90 minutes our concentration has to be on winning the game – for three weeks of not getting any breaks whatsoever and at the spell when it was 1-0 to Stranraer we had one of the line, one of the post and Andy Ferguson missed the ball from 6 yards out and it looked like it wasn’t going to be our day and then every break came our way – Andy Scott’s goal took 2 or 3 deflections before ending in the net but you earn your breaks and the extra man helped and it was good to see the team starting to show a bit of confidence and I was happy with that. We now look forward to the game against Stirling Albion on a high and I think that is important.
5 - 1
Full Time

Dunfermline Athletic v Alloa Athletic

Alloa Athletic had problems even before they kicked a ball at East End Park on Tuesday night, there were players stuck in traffic jams on the way to the game, therefore manager Allan Maitland after announcing his team for the Co-operative Insurance Cup 2nd Round tie against Dunfermline Athletic was then forced to make three changes to his original team. Steven McKeown and Graeme Brown were replaced in the starting eleven by Scot Buist and John Grant, while Jamie Hay was replaced on the bench by Francis Kelly, Steven McKeown managed to be on the bench, but Andy Scott had to replace Graeme Brown who was not going to be at the ground in time for kick-off. The manager then had to go with the players who had arrived and this unsettled us at the beginning of the game Ironically the only goal of the game was scored as earlier as the eighth minute with Dunfermline’s first shot at goal.

 

manager after dunfermline athletic game

At the goal we allowed Andy Kirk to run unopposed and I thought Jellie could have done better, but he said to me, gaffer the shot was flying and it was almost past me before I moved, so you have to give Andy Kirk a bit of credit for the strike. The second half we got a grip of the things and played so much better, obviously from their point of view a one goal lead is near enough and the longer it stayed at one the deeper they got, but we played with a lot of spirit, and all the things that have been missing in our play recently, it helped with Brown Ferguson and Dougie Wilson back in the team, we were so much better, great movement, Kyle was better and we only lack that cutting edge at the moment, but if we take that display into our league form, starting on Saturday against Stranraer, we will not be far away from being a good team again, the display against Dunfermline Athletic proved that but we need to make sure we carry on from that display now in our league form. Young Gregg Spence again came on for the final eleven minutes and did very well, we need to keep Bomber and Jinky fit for Saturday and let’s hope David McClune and Andy Ferguson are also available again after injury. Jamie Stevenson went off after only 16 minutes at East End Park after feeling his hamstring tighten which is a worry for Saturday, but we will have to wait and see.

 
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