Season: 2018-19

Alloa Athletic v Queen of the South

Victory against Queen of the South on the final Saturday which ended the 2nd Quarter of the season was huge, a great three points fully merited on the day, our third victory of the season moving us up the table to eighth position.

The opening goal did not come until the 63rd minute and what a beauty it was, Iain Flannigan sending a free kick past Alan Martin in the visitors goal for his seventh goal of the season.

Queen of the South had looked dangerous on the break but missed the presence of Stephen Dobbie who had broken the Alloa hearts at Dumfries earlier in the season in the 3-3 draw. Manager Jim Goodwin was concious of the fact that “The Wasps” have drawn too many games this season and could be five or six points better of.

Manager Jim Goodwin was not content on 1-0 scoreline and introduced both Adam Brown and Liam Burt to freshen up the attack and Liam Burt had an immediate effect with his goalbound shot parried out by keeper Alan Martin where Dario Zanatta was on hand to score the second and winning goal, which was no more than “The Wasps” deserved.

The victory was huge for Jim Goodwin’s team as they now go into the 3rd quarter of the season. The manager is pleased with the 1st half of the season but believes there is still more to come in the second half of the season.
2 - 0
Full Time

Partick Thistle v Alloa Athletic

This was “The Wasps” first visit to Firhill now named “The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill since Season 2005/06, the game was played in horrendous conditions, driving icy rain, sleet and hailstones along with a biting wind.

Credit to both teams for serving up a very good 2 – 2 draw, Partick Thistle took the lead after 18 minutes when Jake Hastie fouled Christie Elliott and Kris Doolan made no mistake from the spot. Six minutes later “The Wasps” were level after a fantastic run into the box by Alan Trouten before squaring the ball back for Kevin Cawley to score his 55th goal for the club.

Partick Thistle’s second goal came from another set play, Blair Spittal getting two chances from his free kick as his original effort was blocked but rebounded straight back to him to put the home side back in front.

Alloa stepped up a gear in the second half, bossing possession and deservedly struck their equaliser just before the hour mark, Dario Zanatta firing home past Jamie Sneddon in the home goal.

Alloa looked dangerous in possession and could have scored more but lacked a cutting edge in the final third of the pitch. They thoroughly deserved the draw, having the best chances of the second half, however it was another chance lost to claim full points. No change in the league positions with all five games in the Ladbrokes Championship all ending in draws.

jim goodwin after draw at firhill

Prior to the game, we fancied ourselves coming here and we felt if we got at them we would have a chance of winning the game. There was nothing in the game up until the penalty, I would need to see it back again, I don’t know but it looked relatively soft from my point of view, I look at the two goals, I think in the first instance we don’t need to go to ground in the box to give the referee a decision to make, I think it was the linesman on the far side who eventually gives it and for second one from the free kick, we again go to ground and give away a free kick 30 yards from goal and Partick get the break of the ball, the wall does it job stands up and takes it but it came straight back to Spittal and he hits it through a crowd of bodies and it was very difficult for Neil Parry to do anything with.

From our point of view, I think our two goals were really well worked, Alan Trouten does really well for the first goal and the second one had a good passage of play on the far side a bit of one touch football with Iain Flannigan involved with a fantastic strike from Dario Zanatta. I suppose having been 2-1 down at half-time if you had offered me a point then I would have been delighted but I think over the whole balance of play I felt we played the better football on the day, without really having any real clear cut chances I thought we just shaded it.

The conditions were not great but we still tried to play, we knew Partick would try and exploit the space in behind and I don’t think we handled it as well as I would have liked in the first half, we spoke about it at half-time and we had a better line in the second half and denied them that space in behind which restricted them in the second half. Full credit to the players they have their Christmas night out tonight and I’m pleased they can go and enjoy it on the back of a positive result, they deserve it. We are almost half way through the season and they have been absolutely brilliant and the pleasing thing for me is there is still more to come from this group of players.

We have looked at both our last two games which have been drawn and believed both games were winnable, we had looked to get four points which would have been a great return as it stands we have only taken two points but it was better drawing the games than getting beat, the players character cannot ever be questioned being 2-1 down last week and drawing the game, anyone at the game would tell you we should have won the game and here today I think a draw was probably a fair result.
2 - 2
Full Time

Falkirk v Alloa Athletic

It is unusal having been 2-0 down away from home against a full-time side that we might feel aggrieved only to pick up a point in a 2-2 draw. However, apart from “The Wasps” opening 30 minutes in this match they dominated play and deserved more than their sixth draw of the season. Alloa had not won a league match at Falkirk since 15th September, 1982, when they won 1-0 thanks to a Garry Murray goal, Alex Totten being the last Alloa manager to win at Falkirk in the league.

This was a missed opportunity to win at the Falkirk Stadium, Alan Trouten’s goal just prior to half-time was huge and gave the players the belief they could go on and win the match while the Falkirk team looked far more nervy and got deeper as the game went on.

In the second half Alloa dominated the play and always looked to get forward playing positive football and looked the team most likely to score.

It was that man Alan Trouten who would score the desrved equalising goal on 77 minutes, his 12th goal of the season, back heeling the ball past Leonardo Fasan in the Falkirk goal.

jim goodwin after draw at falkirk

I should be satisfied with our come back to gain a point after being two goals down but it is probably the most deflated I have felt after a game of football for a long time to be honest with you. I am really frustrated that we gifted Falkirk a two goal start, both sloppy goals as far as we are concerned. We needed to defend the first one better and stop the cross and be stronger with their striker in the box. The second one is one of the things we talked about at training on Thursday evening, Falkirk are a very direct football team and we knew they would want to put balls in behind us and we gave them too much space to do that and then Paul Paton gets a tap in, but after that we completely dominated the game, I thought we were well on top but the game is not all about possession stats it is goals that matter, but we completely controlled the game from there on and got a good goal just before half-time which was an important time to score.

Then in the second half I just felt we were camped in the Falkirk half for the majority of the game, the fact that I am sitting here now disappointed with a 2-2 draw speaks volumes. We have the kind of team I wanted to put together in the summer, I spoke to the boys when we were doing our recruitment and I was not willing to bring in guys who can’t handle the ball and not being wanting to play. We have a certain philosophy and I want to stick to it, I know it is a results business at the end of the day, some managers will grind out results but I do not want us to do it that way, I want to get good footballers in my team who can handle the ball and I would be really interested to see the stats today, we absolutely dominated the ball in terms of possession, I know it is what you do with it, I understand that and we can improve on that aspect we know we need to do more with the ball but I believe it would have been a travesty if we hadn’t come away with something from the game today.

I still think it is a massive point and how important it is going to be, who knows? I’m just frustrated at the cheap goals we are giving away, if we can cut out those cheap goals then we can give ourselves a chance to win a game, I always fancy us going forward, we will create chances like we have done today, Dario Zanatta’s shot that hit the post in the second half and we had other opportunities balls flashing across the face of the goal as Kevin Cawley did in the first half but someone has got to go and knock them in.

We are dropping a lot of cheap points and today we fancied ourselves coming here today, we thought if we defended well we would give ourselves a chance to win the game, but you cannot give any team a two goal start. Loads of positives to take from the afternoon and we will go to Firhill next week, not fearing no one. We now need to get another win on the board we have picked up far too many draws, wins are vital and hopefully we can achieve that next Saturday against Partick Thistle.
2 - 2
Full Time

Alloa Athletic v Ross County

It is never easy when you lose a game to a late winning goal, but Ross County have now done that on two occasions this season to “The Wasps” and it still hurts.

Nobody could argue that Ross County were the better team on the day and in Neil Parry Alloa Athletic had the best player on the park. His fine goalkeeping performance and the effort and commitment not to lose the game by the Alloa Athletic players deserved more. Ross County will look back on repeated wastefulness in front of goal while Alloa while accepting defeat did not get any of the big calls during the game.

With the clock running down and the Alloa defence being more solid in the second half, Neil Parry pulled off a very late save from Billy McKay which looked to have gained “The Wasps” a precious point. However into stoppage time and Josh Mullin’s cross into the back post was meet by Keith Watson to bullet home the winning goal.

The way the Ross County players celebrated showed how difficult “The Wasps” had made it for them.

jim goodwin after late defeat

That’s the second time Ross County have scored a very late goal against us in the league this season, in the first game of the season at Dingwall they scored a winner in the 88th minute and today it was the 91st minute, but I have no arguments about the end result, Ross County were the better team on the day. I haven’t had to say that too many times this season but sometimes you just need to hold your hand up and say the better team won.

 

I’m gutted for my back four and Neil Parry in particular who made some great saves and was voted “Man of the Match” , we defended brilliantly throughout the game, but we offered very little going forward and that is the disappointing thing from us point of view. We have to be realistic about where we are Ross County are a very good side, they had five or six key players missing and they can still bring in replacements that are of a very good standard.

 

No arguments, who ever finishes above them will win the league, I think it is as simple as that they are a good side and well worth their victory today.
0 - 1
Full Time

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.
3 - 0
Full Time
4 - 2
Full Time

Edinburgh City v Alloa Athletic

“The Wasps” disappointingly crashed out of the Irn-Bru Cup at the Quarter-Final stages against Edinburgh City at Ainslie Park after the home side stormed back from two goals down early in the match to take the tie to another penalty kick shoot out, “The Wasps” third in this season’s competition.

Jim Goodwin’s men could not have wished for a better start to the game, Dario Zanatta opening the scoring for the visitors after only two minutes with fans still coming into the ground.

“The Wasps” increased their lead ten minutes later, when Liam Dick’s header was knocked home by Alan Trouten for his eighth goal of the season. Even the most ardent Alloa fan did not expect their team to be two goals ahead against Edinburgh City in the opening 12 minutes, Edinburgh City who had been on a fantastic run of thirteen straight victories before losing at Clyde, which included a 4-1 victory against Arbroath at Gayfield in the previous round.

The game then settled down and the home side gradually were edging there way back into the game with their physical strength and height. Alloa were getting deeper and the turning point of the game came when Edinburgh City’s talisman striker Blair Henderson headed home from a set piece when his height won the areial challenge in the box.

The goal prior to half-time changed the game hauling Edinburgh City back into a game which in the opening twenty minutes looked to be a step too far for them. If Alloa took false hope from their early goals they certainly knew they were in a game now. The home side were right back in the game and started the second half looking like they were the team most likely to score. Therefore it was no more than they deserved on 57 minutes when Scott Shepherd cut in from the right and thundered a shot past Neil Parry, 2-2 game on.

Edinburgh City had grown into the game and Alloa were now on the back foot. Striker Greig Spence who was on a yellow card was replaced on the hour by Stevie Hetherington, unfortunately Connor Shields was sidelined having picked up a knock playing for Sunderland reserves.

Alloa suffered another injury blow when Reis Peggie landed ackwardly and had to leave the field with suspected broken wrist. “The Wasps” were trying to reach the semi-final stages for the first time sine 2014/15 when they defeated Ally McCoist’s Rangers 3-2 to reach the final.

The game however ended 2-2 and to penalty kicks for the third time this season. Having previously scored 19 out 19 kicks from the spot this season nobody could fault the players but the home side were victorious winning 4-3 on penalties. Their keeper Callum Antell saved Scott Taggart’s initial kick to give to give them the advantage which they held strong to win 4-3, Andy Graham ending the contest when his penalty was wide off the mark. Although hugely disappointed we have another huge game on Tuesday evening at Tannadice Park against Dundee United who are now unbeaten in their last five matches since bringing in Robbie Neilson as manager.

jim goodwin after irn bru cup exit

We are extremely disappointed to be out of the competition, we started the game so well, getting our noses in front by getting two goals early doors was great and I think after that, I don’t know if we got a false sense of security maybe and thought it was going to be too easy, we dropped a little bit too deep after about twenty five minutes and invited Edinburgh City to put balls into our box and the goal just on half-time was a bit of a sick one to take, we should have defended it better, we gave away a cheap free kick, we worked all week at defending set plays because we knew how important they would be to Edinburgh City, it was a great delivery and they had big boys coming up, particularly Blair Henderson their striker and inevitably it was him who got the free header. We went from half a minute of the first half being two nil up at half-time feeling good about ourselves, then getting done with the sucker punch it was disappointing overall.

We have taken the competition seriously right from the start, I know some of the bigger teams used it as an opportunity to give some of their second string a run out but that has never been the case for ourselves, we respect the tournament and we tried to win it, it is as simple as that, but I don’t think we could argue about the overall result, to draw the game was disappointing and the second goal we lost was poor defensively but I felt Edinburgh City were the better team in the second half and they were putting us under a lot of pressure. They are a very direct team who try to get the ball up to Henderson and they are good at putting balls into the box and getting good runners of him, so we didn’t cope well enough with that in the second half and we didn’t impose our own game on Edinburgh, we didn’t get the ball down to be able to draw players as well as what we could have so fair play to Edinburgh City when it goes to penalties it is just a lottery at the end of the day – I can’t fault my boys too much as they had previously this season scored 19 in a row before today’s game, the standard of penalties up till now had been excellent unfortunately Scott Taggart and Andy Graham are the two who miss but your luck will run out at one point or another so you cannot go to penalties continuously to win games. It didn’t go our way today and I wish Edinburgh City all the best in the next round.
2p - 2
Full Time

Greenock Morton v Alloa Athletic

“The Wasps” collected their second league victory of the season, their first away from home when they defeated Greenock Morton 2-0 at Cappielow to move up the league table to eighth position. After a first half which saw each side have one good opportunity, in the second half with the rain pouring down although the home side had good possession it was “The Wasps” who had the best opportunities and created the best chances.

It is so important to be able to score the first goal and Alloa had a great chance when Alan Trouten’s cross found Greig Spence in a great position inside the box but the striker headed wide when it looked easier to score. The players stuck to their task and were being brave and looked to go and win the match, playing a good passing game and looking to break when opportunities opened up.

The opening goal came after 73 minutes when Morton defender Gregor Buchanan fouled Dario Zanatta in the box after Dario had drove into the box and got to the bye line, Alan Trouten took the spot kick to put “The Wasps” ahead his 7th goal of the season and his 1st league goal of the season.

The visitors increased their lead on 85 minutes when substitute Jake Hastie was pulled back when breaking into the box by Reghan Tumilty and referee Colin Steven awarded Alloa their second penalty of the game. with Alan Trouten having been substituted by Stevie Hetherington five minutes earlier, Iain Flannigan took the responsibilty to maintain Alloa’s 100% penalty record this season scoring 19 out of 19. “The Wasps” throughly deserved their victory having been the better team on the day with the defence as solid as a rock claiming their fifth shut of the season, and the team looking dangerous on the break, indeed in the closing minutes Dario Zanatta was only denied by a great save by Morton keeper Derek Gaston to “The Wasps” increasing the scoreline.

This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the end of the First World War and both Greenock Morton & Alloa Athletic joined by laying wreaths at Cappielow and observing a minutes silence, while a lament was played by local Greenock MSP Stuart McMillan just prior to kick-off.

 

jim goodwin at cappielow

An excellent three points and I thought it was thoroughly deserved, I thought the players were excellent from start to finish, we have had so many games like that where we have struggled to get the first goal and get done with a sucker punch as we did last week against Dunfermline, but the difference today was that we managed to get that first goal, Morton are a decent side they pumped Partick Thistle here 5-1 so we knew what a tough test it was going to be but the players stuck to the game plan perfectly, frustrated Morton in the first half. We spoke at half-time how we could hit the areas in behind and catch them on the counterattack and I thought the players were excellent and we could have had another couple of goals as well.

I think psychologically it is good to get above Partick Thistle in the league Table, it can be very positive for us and maybe have a negative impact on Partick but it is early days, I still think we should have another four or five points on our league points tally, anybody who has been watching us regularly this season know we have been beat by the odd goal on too many occasions, but that is coming down to the fact of the lack of goals we are scoring ourselves which is putting too much pressure on our back four but I thought our defence were outstanding today. Neil Parry made one great save in the first half and did well on one occasion in second half as well but other than that we were comfortable for large periods of the game.

I thought the referee had a decent game, I thought initially the second penalty was outside the box but I do think the law is if it carries on inside the box then it becomes a penalty, yes we were delighted to get that second one because Morton always looked a threat and went gun ho as soon as we scored the first and they were dangerous on the break, so the second goal allowed us to kill the game a bit and take the pressure off.

Our away record has been excellent and people have made a big thing about us bringing the pitch in at home and it certainly hasn’t worked the way we would have liked it and we have now secured more points away from home. All the credit goes to the players they are the people who have to go out and carry out the game plan.

I have a lot of respect for JJ and Peter Houston, they are a good team they have done great this season so far but I don’t think anyone could argue with the result today. We created many great chances, in the first half Alan Trouten dinks a great ball over to Greig Spence and you would expect “Spenny” to score, he is the most prolific goalscorer we have at the club, he is fantastic in that position, so after missing that chance you do think is it going to be “One of those days” . I said to the plays at half-time, let’s not be content to come away with a 0-0 draw, we go into every game trying to win it and I think that showed today and we deserved the win.
0 - 2
Full Time

Alloa Athletic v Dunfermline Athletic

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

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

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

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

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

jim goodwin after home defeat to dunfermline

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

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

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

I don’t think there is a great deal between a lot of the sides, Ross County and Dundee United are big clubs at this level with massive budgets, so we expect them to be at the top end, Ayr United have down absolutely fantastic catching everyone by surprise but the rest of us we have went toe to toe with every other team and we have not been hit for a four or five goal defeat at any point throughout the season. We had a bad night on Tuesday down at Ayr but again 3 -0 flatters Ayr losing a goal in the 97th minute. I keep saying to the boys we have absolutely nothing to fear. We have doubled the points tally gathered by Brechin City all last season, we have a Quarter-Final of a cup to look forward to and we are not sitting bottom of the league and everybody expected us to be sitting bottom of the league and a drift from everyone else, we are a point behind Partick Thistle and four points clear of Falkirk at the bottom of the league as disappointed as we are today and with some of our recent results there is still a lot of positives to take and we are only a third of the way through and I think we can get better and that is a good thing for us.
0 - 1
Full Time
3 - 0
Full Time