Season: 2018-19
Ayr United v Alloa Athletic
“The Wasps” secured their SPFL Championship safety after a 1-1 draw against Ayr United at Somerset Park on the final league game of the season which also condemed Falkirk to relegation to League One and Queen of the South to the end of season Play-Off’s.
Jim Goodwin’s side finished eighth a position which on reflection nobody at the club doubted could be achieved but one the media had never believed to be possible for a part-time club written off prior to the start of the season.
“The Wasps” travelled to Somerset Park knowing that they had to take something from the game and started very brightly with Dario Zanatta on the left wing causing the home defence many problems. Ross Doohan had to make a great save at the back post before shortly afterwards only the crossbar prevented Alloa going in front.
Alloa took a deserved lead after 33 minutes when Connor Shields drove at the Ayr United defence and fired his shot low into the bottom corner of the net. However four minutes later Lawrence Shankland scored the equaliser with his 34th goal of the season.
The second half produced chances for both teams with Alloa still looking for the winning goal with Connor Shields and Dario Zanatta causing problems with their pace, Kevin Cawley was just out of reach as a Zanatta croos flashed across the face of the Ayr goal.
The final minutes in the second half seemed to last for ever as Ayr made it really difficult, with a Luke McCowan header in the closing minutes thankfully straight into Neil Parry’s arms. The final whistle brought great joy and relief getting over the line. This season was always going to be tough but the objective of staying in the Championship had been achieved, proving “The Wasps” worth and merit in the SPFL Championship.
jim goodwin after securing 8th in the championship
It has been a fantastic day but it was all down to the hard work during the last ten months which has paid off, it was probably the longest half of football that I have ever experienced in my career, but the most satisfying when the final whistle went. It was very emotional; the boys are over the moon to be a Championship team again next season. I am delighted for everybody within the club from the board level right down to the players and supporters and for all these guys for sticking with us when you guys in the press had written us off before a ball was kicked, I think we were bottom in every prediction table and the players deserve all the credit ramming that back down people’s throats and proving that we are more than capable of being in this league. We have won ten of our league games having been written off, it is difficult for a part time team so the players deserve so much credit, it is not easy juggling jobs, trying to keep yourself fit so delighted for everybody and I can’t wait to go and celebrate properly with the boys.
I genuinely believed when I put this squad together in the summer and knew if I could get the right loan players in to add to the quality we already had, when I looked at all the others squads I genuinely believed we had as good a chance as anyone. You can talk about budgets and full-time and part-time, if you get the right group of people, it doesn’t matter in what industry, business or sport together as we had in our dressing room then you create an unbelievable team spirit and I think we have always had that. I always believed we would stay in the league and when I look back in the season and look at some of the results which didn’t go our way I think we could have finished even higher in the league but I don’t want to get greedy. Before a ball was kicked we would probably have taken ninth but as the season went on we just wanted to avoid all that nonsense – The Play-Off’s are horrendous we didn’t want to be involved again after being there the last two seasons, the experience in the Play-Off’s is mentally draining and I am pleased for the players now, eight or nine of them have been with me the past three seasons and delighted they can now go and get a proper break and recharge the batteries having only three weeks off in each of the past two seasons, where as now they can get six or seven weeks rest.
I thought we started the game really well, we spoke earlier in the week about not being happy just to come here and be happy with a point we came here to get our noses in front and win the game, we had enough chances in the first half Dario had a good chance at the back post and he then had another chance when he strikes the crossbar and we had other chances, I thought we were the better team up until Ayr United got the equaliser and then things did get a little bit nervy and the message at half-time was just to calm down, relax and show composure on the ball and to be honest the boys managed the game brilliantly in the end and got the job done.
 
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Alloa Athletic v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
“The Wasps” will go to a final-day showdown to stay in the Championship next season after two goals in five minutes saw Inverness Caledonian Thistle turn the game round having been 1-0 down at half-time.
Alloa deserved better from the game but for the second week in a row having been 1-0 up at half-time they ended up losing the game 2-1 at a time in the season when results rather than performances count.
Alloa started the game brightly with Dario Zanatta causing the Caley Thistle defence problems on the left side of the park, setting up Jack Aitchison for the first chance of the game.
Jack Aitchison with early opportunity
“The Wasps” took the lead after 27 minutes when Dario Zanatta clashed with Coll Donaldson inside the box and Alan Trouten slotted home his 19th goal of the season from the penalty spot.
Alan Trouten’s penalty gives Alloa the lead.
Alloa’s half time lead was richly deserved although only being one goal in front was sparse reward. John Robertson immediately made two substitutions at the break to try and get into the game. However it was Alan Trouten who had the best opportunity at the start of the second half but his effort flew over the bar with a goal looking on the cards.
Then came the two goals which turned the game on 68 minutes & 73 minutes, Shaun Rooney blasting home from the edge of the box and then Charlie trafford reacted quickest at a corner knocking the ball in at the near post.
Alloa manager Jim Goodwin then introduced Jordan Kirkpatrick & Jack Hamilton in an effort to still take something from the game and it nearly worked. Jordan Kirkpatrick shot was only parried by keeper Cameron MacKay but Jack Hamilton could not get in quick enough to capitalise.
With time running out Inverness were determined to run the clock down and a big shout for a penalty when Jamie McCart tripped and knocked over Andy Graham in the box but nothing was given, minutes later Connor Shields in excellent position fired into the keepers arms!
The final chance fell to Jordan Kirkpatrick whose hooked shot went over the bar, a cruel end to game Alloa deserved something from the game. Alloa have done fantastically well this season and a credit to all at the club, but it now goes down to a last day decider to stay in the Division.
jim goodwin after defeat to inverness
We had been leading 1-0 with twenty five minutes to go and I thought at that point we were going to come away with something from the game but then to lose two goals in five minutes like we did was extremely disappointing.
It seemed like déjà vu from last week, we were 1-0 up at half-time, played well, got our noses in front and then done the exact same thing this week, I still thought we were worthy of something out of the game, so it is very frustrating.
There were calls for a second penalty, I didn’t get a great view from where I was, Andy Graham certainly felt he was kicked in the back of the leg and pushed over, whether it was or not we shouldn’t be relying on the referee to do us a favour at the end to try and take something from that game. There wasn’t a great deal between the teams, Neil Parry had one very good save in the second half other than that I can’t remember him having a save to make. Possession wise it was fairly even, shots on target fairly even and we had eleven corners to their four, we were trying to win the game, it is as simple as that. The message at half-time was go out and do exactly the same but it’s that old cliché goals change games, the goals we lost were so disappointing and avoidable from our point of view.
It was frustrating at the end, Inverness got themselves in front and then tried to run the clock down, the referee added on three minutes initially which I didn’t believe was enough considering all the substitutions and the amount of time it was taking to get the ball back in play and then within that three minutes we had a skirmish for a minute and two or three players going down injured, you can add on time on added on time if the time wasting continues. I don’t want to make a big thing about it, it sounds as if you are clutching at straws, at the end of the day Inverness were well within their rights to run the clock down, we would do the same in their situation but I thought the referee could maybe manage the situation a wee bit better.
We had chances, Connor Shields had a good chance at the back post their keeper makes a good save, Kirky had a great strike it bounced away from the keeper but Jack Hamilton just needed to react a bit quicker but we just need to get over it as quick as we can, we now have one game left down at Ayr and we need to go and win it, it’s a simple as that. We will train as we always do on Tuesday and Thursday and prepare properly for a difficult opponent in Ayr United and hopefully we can go down there and win.
I personally think we should have been safe by this time that’s the frustrating part from my point of view it shouldn’t be going down to the wire as it is now going to be before Partick Thistle game we had won four games on the bounce, to be 1-0 up at half-time against Partick Thistle and then to lose was gut wrenching but then to do the exact same thing today is extremely frustrating and it’s that frustration we will have to try and get over as quick as we can, if teams had been cutting us open and creating chance after chance but the goals we have lost were poor we should have been closer to the shot for the first one and the second one is just a basic corner where we need to defend it better. I can’t point the finger too much at the players because they have been magnificent up to now but we just need to try and go again next week, their character has never been questioned and I know the boys will be ready we just have to believe we can go and win.
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Partick Thistle v Alloa Athletic
jim goodwin at firhill
Disappointed to our start in the second half the way we did , I thought the way the boys played in the first half was perfect, it was everything that we had spoken about in the build up to the game to allow Patrick’s three defenders at the back to have the ball and hit them on the break, we got in a couple of times on the counterattack, Jack Aitchison does perfect for his goal, it was a great finish so we were delighted at half-time as you can imagine but we knew about the threat Partick Thistle have with the quality of players they have and being able to bring off the bench. Credit to Gary Caldwell he made a brave double substitution at half-time and I thought Joe Cardle and Gary Harkins did really well.
Joe got his goal after a couple of minutes which is disappointing, because we spoke about the importance of the opening ten minutes of the Second half and how important it was to keep the score line at 1-0 and stay in the game and manage it properly, unfortunately we didn’t do that, Cardle drifted in to the middle of the pitch and got his shot away and that was one each.
The goals for me we lost were disappointing because we had been blocking shots and stopping crosses in the whole first half up until then, I don’t think Neilly had too many safes to make and the winning goal you just have to take your hat off sometime and give credit to Scott McDonald, when you are able to bring a player of that quality to your club then that’s what you get his sixth goal since he arrived he has been a really good signing for them.
We are disappointed because we would be disappointed to lose any game of football, but I did say to the players they can be very proud of the run they were on prior to the game, we are the only team in the league this season to win four games in a row, so we took a lot of credit for that but we will not get down in the dumps about this afternoon being 1-0 up a half-time we should take something from the game, but I have been there as a player too many times when you know 1-0 is not a comfortable lead, so we need to go again and it is still in our hands.
If you had offered me this situation at the start of the season with two games left we are three points off the bottom and need to go and win another game of football to stay in the division I would have snapped the hand off you. So we have Inverness CT and Ayr United coming up two games which we be extremely difficult games, but games we are more than capable of winning.
I can’t argue to much with the final result Partick were the better team on the day, we did really well in the first half but they were on top in second half which gives them a fighting chance now, it is a fantastic league, really entertaining and I think you will be doing well to find a more entertaining league this season – It’s still all to play for everybody’s still in the mix and there is still a lot of football to be played.
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Alloa Athletic v Queen of the South
This was another huge win for the club, although for the winning goal fortune smiled on us on this occasion. The wind at times spoiled the game and it was the elements which helped Stevie Hetherington score direct from a corner kick in the second half which proved to be the only goal of the game.
“The Wasps” started the game strongly but could not get that vital opening goal in the first half, although the woodwork did have to come to the rescue of the visitors, Queen of the South. Queen’s ended the first half strongly and gradually grew into the game and Neil Parry in the Alloa goal had to look sharp to prevent “The Doonhammers” taking the lead.
Jack Hamilton had a great opportunity to put “The Wasps” in front but his shot was saved by the Queen’s keeper Jack Leighfield.
Having got the vital goal through Steven Hetherington’s corner going straight in, Alloa were dealt a huge blow minutes later when Andy Graham had his nose broken after being caught by a challenge by Lyndon Dykes.
However at this stage in the season, the only statisic which was important was gaining another three league points as the club strive to retain their postition in the Championship next season. The team defended well and had the defence and Neil Parry to thank on this occasion and now know survival is in their own hands with only three league fixtures left this season.
jim goodwin after 4th consecutive victory
We are over the moon again, fantastic, the boys are terrific, we didn’t play particularly great today we have played a hell of a lot better than that and lost, people say it evens itself out but that is as bad a performance as we have put in, in terms of possession in a long time but it just goes to show again the resilience of the defenders and big Neilly in goal who had to make some important saves and we managed to stay in the game. I thought we started the game particularly well in the opening 15 – 20 minutes and were on top, hit the post and looked as if we were going to go in front then in fairness to Queen of the South I thought they were the strongest team for the rest of the first half.
In at 0 – 0 at half-time and we knew we had to improve going into the second half and I thought the second half was a lot more even to be honest. We know the threat Queen of the South have, they are very direct in their approach up to Dykes who is very good in the air and we had to match runners off him and I thought the boys did that, it wasn’t pretty, we got a bit of luck today and I’m really pleased for the boys and that is the first time in the club’s history they have managed to win four games in a row in the Championship, so it is another one the boys can tick off, they have achieved a lot this season so I’m delighted for them.
Andy Graham is an absolute warrior, it is the best word to describe him he has played through so many knocks and injuries that people wouldn’t believe me if I told them, he has a hole in his calf an inch by an inch deep and he had seven stitches in it up at Inverness which got infected. He now has suffered a broken nose today, he has all kinds of problems the big man but he is never willing to throw the towel in and he typifies everything about us as a club and us as a group in terms of character. Just desperate to do anything to make sure we stay in this league. I thought he was outstanding again, we did have a number of good performances, yes we didn’t play well going forward and we know we need to do better on the ball but my back four and particularly big Neil Parry, were brilliant on the day.
The goal we worked hard it in training all week!
No the conditions were difficult, it was very blustery out there, it was one of these ones as the corner left Steve’s boot I thought it was going over the bar to be honest with you, but we got the luck and it went straight in. You get your luck at times and on other occasions we have had bad luck along the way during the season so this was a very good time to get some good luck.
We are delighted but I am pretty sure Gary Naysmith will be extremely disappointed because I thought his team were excellent and If I am being honest and I always try to be honest in my assessment, I thought they were the better team on the day but we got our rewards for our resilience and managing to stay in the game.
We still have three massive games to come and I try not to look at the number on the left with us being in sixth than the points number on the right and I think it is really important for us as a group not to get carried away with that. Yes we are sitting in sixth and delighted to be there but at the same time we are only four points off bottom. All the teams below us are more than capable of winning a couple of games out of the next three, so we just have to make sure that we carry on doing our job between now and the end of the season and I think if we can get one more win then probably that will be enough to keep us in the league.
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Greenock Morton v Alloa Athletic
Three back to back victories have moved “The Wasps” up into 8th position in the league and now give Jim Goodwin’s team a realistic chance of retaining their place in the division after many had written them off even prior to the first game of this season.
However this group of players just never throw the towel in and have picked up victories against Ross County, Falkirk and Greenock Morton in their past three league fixtures, which has put the team right back in the hunt to retain their Championship status, and send a few clubs into a real state of panic with just four games remaining.
At Cappielow on Tuesday night, “The Wasps” fell behind to a soft looking penalty, but great character and determination in the side, saw them draw level three minutes later, but not content with this went looking for a winner.
At this stage of the season the manager was looking for all three points and his positivity was to be rewarded. With ten minutes left Kevin Cawley and Dario Zanatta combined well on the left flank and the ball into the box was eventually knocked over the line by Jack Hamilton to score his first goal for the club since joining on loan from Livingston in the January transfer window.
In the final ten minutes Greenock Morton threw everything at the Alloa defence with Neil Parry looking at his best coming and collecting crosses and blocking any attempts at goal. Although nothing has been achieved at this stage already it has been a memorable season and one the plays and club can be proud of.
jim goodwin after victory at cappielow
The boys were absolutely fantastic again, I could just about repeat what I said after the game on Saturday, and it was all about character again, you go a goal down away from home a lot of teams would capitulate, I thought it was a soft penalty, a little bit clumsy in our part, I can see why the referee gives it but in saying that I think the Morton player was very clever as he made the referee make a decision and unfortunately it went again us.
However the boys never let their heads go down and stuck in and kept going and we get our rewards through a decent finish from Andy Graham and the second one I thought was a really good bit of play on the far side between Kevin Cawley & Dario Zanatta. The only negative for me was we got into good areas especially down that left side in the second half but sometimes the quality coming in wasn’t good enough. That wasn’t the case for the winning goal which Jack Hamilton tucked away and from there on in it was about managing the game and seeing it out. They threw everything at us in the end, they are a dangerous team from set plays, they win a lot of free kicks in the middle of the pitch. Anything 60 or 70 yards from our goal was coming into our box, the boy Buchanan must be knackered the amount of time he runs up and down that park and he is a big threat but we coped with it and our boys at the end won some important headers with Andy Graham, Scott Taggart and Neil Parry all excellent, Neil coming and taking crosses.
It is fantastic for us at this stage of the season to go three games on the spin and take full points, quite incredible. There is still a lot of football to be played, I said to the guys before tonight’s game, it is in our hands we don’t need anybody to do us a favour, it is a great position for us to be in we are not relying on anybody beating someone else for us and we know we are capable of beating anybody on our day, we now look forward to meeting Queen of the South on Saturday, they are another team we have done well against in the past, we know the dangers they have in Dobbie & Dykes but at the same time we know we can cause them problems going the other way, so let’s go and try and make it four in a row.
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Falkirk v Alloa Athletic
fter last Saturday’s victory over league leaders Ross County, Jim Goodwin’s team made it back to back victories at such an important stage of the season, “The Wasps” winning for their first time at the Falkirk Stadium which opened at start of Season 2004/05. Alloa Athletic last defeated Falkirk in the league away from home on 15th September, 1982 when Scott Murray scored in a 1-0 victory, their last victory at Brockville was in the League Cup on 24th August, 1983 when they won 4-2 with goals from Willie Garner, Frankie Cole, Davie Lloyd & Gary Thompson.
Manager Jim Goodwin looked to build on last week’s victory and looked to get forward at every opportunity, Dario Zanatta’s pace and direct running was causing the home defence problems with Jack Aitchison also looking sharp up front. The opening goal came after 38 minutes and was no more than the visitors deserved who always looked dangerous on the break.
Falkirk could not have had a better start to the second half, after 25 seconds the equaliser came when a cross from the left wing was turned home by a combination of Zak Rudden running into the box and defender Scott Taggart trying to knock the ball clear and diverting the cross ball past Neil Parry.
At this stage in the game Falkirk had their best spell and only stout defending kept the home side from taking the lead. Zak Rudden, Aaron Jarvis and Deimantas Petravicius all going close.
However with time running out and the game looking to be heading for a 1-1 draw, manager Jim Goodwin repaced Alan Trouten with Jordan Kirkpatrick to try and winn the three points and Jordan was to be the hero scoring with his first touch of the ball, Jack Hamilton heading forward a long clearance onto Kevin Cawley who nodded the ball onto Jordan Kirkpatrick who ran behind the Falkirk defence to score such a valuable winner for “The Wasps” who kept on believing they could win the three points.
jim goodwin after victory at falkirk
We are an extremely happy bunch after that, it was important we came here today and tried to follow up after the good performance last week, there was no point going and beating the best team in the league and then coming here and not being positive in our mindset.
We done that from the start of today’s game and with we deservedly got ourselves in front. Although after this we were disappointed to lose the goal just 25 seconds into the second half, we need to do better to avoid these opportunities arising for our opponents, but great testament to our players, at these points it is easy to crack under the pressure but we stood up and rode out the storm for the next five minutes and slowly but surely we got ourselves back into the game and went and got the late goal.
Winning games at this late stage of the season is vital particularly in the position that we are in. We believed that we could come here and win the game today and this is shown through the way we were set up today. We discussed it as a team during the week, that there was no point in coming here and being happy to take a point from the game, it’s not how we go about things so we set the team up to win rather than not to lose and I think you would see that in the way we played today.
First half we did well on the ball in possession and I think we caused them a number of problems and probably just lacked a little cutting edge in the final third with our final ball letting us down at times. This is the time to go on a run and put pressure on the teams around us in the league which is great.
It is going to be a busy week this week with Morton on Tuesday night and Queen of the South on Saturday which could be seen as a defining week for us. We have great confidence and great faith in each other as a group, people can talk about budgets and being part-time and everything else but when you have the togetherness and team spirit which we have with both staff and players it can take you a long way. This can be seen again today when there were players who are disappointed not to be starting today but when they come on the pitch today they have made a great impact on the game. All substitutes, Jack Hamilton, Kevin Cawley and Jordan Kirkpatrick were involved in the goal with Jack winning the first flick on, then Kevin nods it down, then Jordan who having only just came onto the park had the composure to finish it for us. I was delighted for all three of these boys as they have been terrific in training they don’t feel sorry for themselves they respect the decisions which I have to make and when they are needed throughout a game they are ready as shown in today’s game. The substitutions which we made showed that we were here trying to win the game, we weren’t going to hang on for a point, it was vital that we came here to win the game and we did that.
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Alloa Athletic v Ross County
“The Wasps” collected another three massive league points on Saturday, defeating league leaders Ross County 1-0 for their seventh victory in this season’s SPFL Championship, once again proving there is very little between the sides in this season’s league.
Alloa showed plenty of attacking threat and took the game to the league leaders. Jack Aitchison was able to make his Alloa Athletic full debut having returned after Scotland Under 19 duties and he certainly caused “The Staggies” plenty of problems.
“The Wasps” had great pace on the attack and Dario Zanatta gave them a deserved lead on 33 minutes with a fantastic solo goal to break the deadlock.
As half-time approached the only disappointment was the fact the scoreline was only 1-0 as “The Wasps” could have had another couple of goals.
It had been a tough week for Jim Goodwin’s team playing Dundee Utd, Inverness CT and Ross County back to back.
Ross County brought on ex Wasp Ross Stewart to add to their attacking options as they looked to get an equaliser, but Neil Parry was in superb form and was equal to anything in front of him to secure his eighth shut-out for the season.
The victory for “The Wasps” was well deserved and helped to repay their loyal supporters who travel all over the country including the midweek trip on Tuesday night to Inverness to give them their backing.
The players have done great to stay in the mix and now only five points separate the bottom five clubs.
jim goodwin after victory against league leaders
We are over the moon with the result which has been long overdue, the three previous games against Ross County have all been close encounters barring the one up their the last time but we were confident coming into today’s game, I know we haven’t been on a great run and everybody would have expected the league leaders to come here and turn us over quite confidently. We worked hard during the week, it has been a really tough week for us, the players energy wise has been testing after two really difficult away games against Dundee United & Inverness CT, the players had to recover quickly because we knew this afternoon was going to be difficult as well and I thought every single one of them was outstanding there was nobody below 7 out of 10.
We are capable of beating anyone on the day if we all turn up and we all play to the level required, we needed our goalkeeper to make a couple of key saves, our centre half to be brave and aggressive and the boys at the top end of the pitch to be on it and I thought to a man, even the boys we came on all contributed something towards a massive three points.
I think the players have done great just to stay in the mix when you consider we have had only one win in seven prior to today we have been on a sticky run but the players deserve all the credit for keeping us in the hunt, I keep saying to you guys and everyone else “The pressure is on everyone else”.
They have all chucked a lot of money out in January, they are all full-time, nobody gave us a hope before a ball was kicked this season apart from ourselves, the board, the boys in the changing room and the people at this club, we were the only ones who could see us saying in the league, with six games to go we still believe we can stay in the league, we have a huge week coming – we play Falkirk Saturday, Greenock Morton on Tuesday and Queen of the South at home the following Saturday, three huge games that could really be decisive where we are going to be next season, and we don’t fear any of those three teams.
Our only criticism at half-time is we were only 1-0 ahead, we should have been two or three up, I thought we had a couple of decent opportunities, I know Neil Parry had to make a good save in the first half but I thought we could have been at least a couple of goals ahead at half-time. The manner of the victory was brilliant, we had to put our bodies on the line at times and we stuck together in the last ten minutes when it was wave upon wave of pressure, Ross County could make some very big changes with Ross Stewart coming off the bench who we know all too well, we know the qualities Ross has and our defenders had to stand up to them, they ended up with two big boys up front, they were very direct and threw everything at us but to a man they all stood up to it and Neil Parry made some vital saves as well.
It has been a difficult week and I think prior to the Dundee United game if you had offered me three points from these three games, I would probably would have took it to be honest to you. So it puts us in a great position going into the remaining games, the boys are feeling great about themselves, we love this league, we love being in Championship and we want to stay here and we will fight and scrap for every single ball to try and stay in this division.
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Alloa Athletic
Credit to the Alloa players who after a hard days work before a midweek trip to Inverness along with their faithful loyal band of supporters never gave up after going 3-0 down after an hour, they could have folded and lost by a far greater margin. However as has been witnessed on many occasion this season this team give their all until the final whistle.
On the night Inverness CT were the better side but looking back Alloa had opportunities to score in the second half before they finally scored through Alan Touten’s penalty.
Goals change games and when Iain Flannigan’s late deflected goal reduced the deficit to 3-2, their seemed a remarkable chance the visitors could get something from a game which seemed unthinkable at 3-0. With time running out it was “The Wasps” who looked for an equaliser with goalkeeper Neil Parry adding his height in the oppostion box for a late corner, but it was too little too late.
jim goodwin after midweek defeat at inverness
The two goals at the end make it look respectable but it would have been daylight robbery if we had come away with anything tonight, we didn’t do enough, we were poor in possession and looked vulnerable every time Inverness broke on us they were dangerous on the counter attack. We spoke about it before the game but unfortunately we didn’t cope well enough on the night.
In saying that the goals were very poor we conceded, we have got to do better for the first one and stop the cross on the far side and Doran just ghosts into the penalty box a free header 12 yards out we needed to match him better. The second one Iain Flannigan slips in the box, he didn’t mean to go to ground and slips but it obviously looks a stonewall penalty and I can see why the referee gives it and the third goal is just a really poor goal we were all over the place, a ball straight through the middle of our back line and Jordan White is in on goal, all three goals were avoidable but at the same time we just didn’t do enough on the night. It was as poor a performance as we have had and we didn’t really lay a glove on Inverness all night, I thought they dominated the majority of the game, they controlled the game in possession and the only other game I can think was like it was a Tuesday night down at Somerset Park against Ayr United and that was the last time we had conceded three goals. These night games aren’t ideal for us unfortunately, some of the boys were out working at half past four this morning and I think that shows in the performance.
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Dundee United v Alloa Athletic
Alloa Athletic have been been a credit to the SPFL Championship this season, at no time looking over awed and causing many of the full-time teams in the division many sleepless nights. At Tannadice on Saturday scoring the early goal through Jordan Kirkpatrick gave “The Wasps” even more confidence they could again take something against a team which they had now played six times this season.
However Dundee United levelled on 26 minutes when Jamie Robson’s free kick was headed towards goal by Nicky Clark, before the unfortunate Andy Graham deflected the header past Neil Parry.
In the second half Dundee United certainly had the bulk of possession but apart from a Paul Watson header which Neil Parry made a great save to keep out it looked like a frustrating day for the home side with their fans very quiet and looking to start heading for the exit.
With the clock running down and only seven minutes left Callum Booth sent over a low cross which fell to Nicky Clark inside the six yard box and he fired the ball high into the net to the relief of the United fans and break the hearts of the Alloa fans who had come within touching distance of claiming a massive point.
The Wasps are fighting for their life at the bottom of the SPFL Championship knowing they are still very much within touching distance of a few full-time clubs who never expected still to be in a relegation dogfight at this stage in the season. A point on Saturday would have been massive, the players will now regroup and go again on Tuesday night at Inverness and then again against league leaders and newly crowned Irn Bru Cup winners, Ross County – facing arguably the most difficult three teams in the division to get anything from.
jim goodwin at tannadice
We are extremely disappointed to lose such a late goal, the players put a hell of a lot of effort into the game and I thought that commitment, effort and the way we stuck to the game plam I thought it warranted a point. I don’t think we played as well as we could have done in possession but in terms of our shape of our defensive line I thought the boys were excellent.
I have a confident group of players, we came here believing that we could get a positive result, we got our nose in front which was fantastic in the first half and we expected Dundee United to throw everything at us, they were desperate for the win to keep the pressure on Ross County. There is a huge gulf between the two clubs, they are at one end of the table fighting to go up and we are at the other end fighting to stay in the league. Our players show the kind of character and commitment and they will fight tooth and nail to try and keep our place in the Championship. I can never ever fault their effort and I just think so late in the game with six or seven minutes to go it would have been great to hold on because it would have been a huge point for us.
We got done on the far side a little one two and it was a decent ball into the box and the last man you wanted it to drop to was Nicky Clark six yards out but I thought we contained Dundee United very well throughout the game, yes they had large spells of possession but I didn’t really think they were causing us too many problems, Neil Parry makes one fantastic save from a header but other than that in the second half he had too many saves to make, he came for a few cross balls and dealt with them brilliantly, I thought the shape of the team was excellent, I thought they stuck to their task and as I said we would happy been over the moon with a point and it would have got us a step closer to the teams above us but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. I don’t think anybody would have given us a chance before the game but we as a group believed we could do something, we have caused United a lot of problems in the past already this season and we still believed we could again take something from the game.
We are still within touching distance the teams above us it is as simple as that and there is still a lot to play for we have eight games left there is no point dwelling on this game now albeit the players can take a lot of pride in their performance and what they put into the game but inevitably it has ended in disappointment because we have nothing to show for all that effort. We tried to hit Dundee United on the counterattack and it worked at times in the first half but we now have a busy time coming up with four games in two weeks and it is trying to save as much energy as we can to make such we can get through that difficult period.
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