Both teams seemed to have question marks in the goalkeeping position. Aidan McAdam the only keeper in Morton’s squad while Alloa are looking to cover Neil Parry’s injury from Tuesday night. Reece Willison signed on matchday and went straight into the team to face Morton.

Alloa were denied a stonewall penalty as Lynch’s freekick picked out the run of Connelly. Inside the box, Fjortoft first clumsily tripped over the back of, then grabbed the Alloa forward as they both plummeted to the deck. Referee Alan Newlands plead ignorance and awarded a goal-kick when unchallenged Connelly would have been one-on-one with McAdam.

In what’s becoming a familiar story at Cappielow, Alloa were caught out from their own attacking freekick. Connelly’s cross partially cleared. Dick’s speculative pass definitely cleared. Josh McPake, who terrorised the Alloa defence in a 3-0 defeat at Dundee last season, got the ball on the half way line, spun and got the better of Jon Robertson. With options left and right McPake placed the ball into the path of the flat-out Cameron Salkeld and he clipped it over Willison’s trailing leg to give Morton the lead.

McPake would get clear to spray a left footed shot wide of Willison’s right post. Alloa would also come close to the equaliser with Connelly pouncing on a miscommunication between goalkeeper and defender only to see his curling effort come off the head of McGinty – another detail missed by the officials.

With the half coming to a close Alloa would fail to find men in the middle. Hetherington’s corner zipping by everyone to harmlessly go for a goal kick. Minutes later, a neat Alloa move would see Trouten seemingly barged to the ground in full view of Alan Newlands. Although Dick recovered the ball to cross first time, before it went for a goal kick, there was no threat to McAdam’s goal and Alloa were again aggrieved by the lack of decisions.

HT | 1-0

Alloa almost compounded their misery with carelessness with the ball in the second half. Morton’s chip and chase tactics earning a freekick and a yellow card after a wayward touch and a high boot from Taggart. Muirhead’s free-kick struck the wall and the return shot trundled wide. Connelly’s dallying on the ball saw Morton turnover possession and create an opportunity for Orsi. He, however could only fire the first-time effort into the ground and out for a goal kick.

On the hour mark, after a contentious late kick on Taggart fell on deaf ears, the fast-breaking McPake went down to a shirt pull from Hetherington. Stevie, already on a yellow from a late challenge, inevitably walked and Alloa were down to 10 men.

Jacobs would almost seal the win with a header from just outside the six-yard box. Sending it over after rising highest from the corner.

McPake would again be at the centre of the action as he beat Taggart to the byline and went over after what looked like a clumsy challenge with minimal contact on the ball. Alan Newlands response was to book the youngster who had already been booked for encroaching an Alloa freekick in the first half. Another highly suspect decision, but it meant the Wasps were again at parity with their hosts in terms of numbers.

As the time wore on, Alloa’s pressure began to tell. A cleared corner, delivered right back into the  box by Ray Grant to an unmarked Alan Trouten. He opted for a header. It looped over McAdam but cannoned off the crossbar. The rebounding ball, knocked back by Buchanan to Dick, was then leathered only a yard over the bar.

To frustrate Alloa even more, just a minute later, a cross sliced off McGinty’s head onto Ross MacIver’s hand. A fact again not spotted by either the referee or the near side linesman who awarded an Alloa corner.

The resultant corner again didn’t test the Morton goallie as Robertson’s header was always rising above the goal.

In the 85th minute, Alloa should have been level. Lynch somehow finding himself in the left wing position launched the ball onto Buchanan’s head but the striker couldn’t keep the effort down.

Cawley, Trouten and Buchanan would all snatch at late chances but fail to bring Alloa level as Morton took all three points from the Championship opener.

Referee: Alan Newlands

 

Saturday’s defeat at Cappielow was a sore one to take, given how well we had played against Partick Thistle the previous week and being disappointed with a point. The manager put it down to a bad day at the office for the players whom he reminds everyone just how well they have done in his short time at the club.

For Scott Taggart making his 150th first team appearance for the club it might not be a game he will want to look back on against one of his previous clubs.

Bob McHugh put Greenock Morton ahead after only five minutes as “The Wasps” started slowly and looking very passive. The injury to Kevin Cawley even although he took his goal well, not that he could remember much about it was another blow just as we were looking to start to play a bit.

We got back into the game and that allowed us to make some passes and created a couple of chances which would have made a difference before half-time.

Indeed Greenock Morton’s second goal came again the run of play in a breakaway after we lost possession and the home side were clinical in their finish. In fairness that changed the game and the third goal along with Andy Graham’s red card killed any hope of a comeback. Anybody who has now had opportunity to see why Andy Graham was complaining about the third goal standing cannot fail to see the foul by Bob McHugh on Robbie Deas.

Football always gives teams a chance to bounce back and we have that opportunity against Arbroath on Saturday 24th August when we meet at the Indodrill stadium in a SPFL Championship fixture, we must make sure we take it.

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peter grant after defeat at cappielow

I thought we started the game very slow which wasn’t like us but the boys have been magnificent since I have come in the door, I just thought there was a wee edge of them today, at simple things – a throw in against not getting across to stop it and I thought that set the tone for the game. We know we are much better than that these boys have been magnificent they way they have been schooled by Jim Goodwin and prior, the way they work their socks off in every training session and in every game we have played and for me I think it is the first time they have not turned up for their work, so hopefully we can put it to bed and move on to the next game which is what we have to do.

The sending off was a strange one, Andy said that the linesman had said something to the referee that he should get a booking, but Andy said he had not shouted at the linesman and that’s when he gave him a second yellow which I found incredible which the referee has not explained, because if he had said something or swore, because at first I thought he had swore at the referee but he said he had done nothing, it was the linesman who had told the referee and Andy said “ I haven’t shouted nothing to the linesman” but the referee gave him a second booking but the game was gone by then.

Morton thoroughly deserved the victory, I didn’t think we turned up today, we had nice patches and could have scored a couple of goals in the first half but we were never in control as we were last week and teams are going to make it difficult for us to play. So we need to be the hardest team to play without the ball and the best team to watch with it, but today we didn’t move the ball quick enough and never stopped the opposition playing and with that combination there is only going to be one winner.

Kevin Cawley has got concussion, he can’t even remember being hurt, he remembers hitting the ball for the goal but can’t remember it hitting the net when he landed and hit his head off the ground, he wanted to carry on but unfortunately nowadays although he felt good but then came to side of park and we had no choice to take him off, because he has been excellent for us and a catalyst in how we play and we missed him today. So we must dust ourselves down and go and make sure it doesn’t happen again, but we didn’t make it hard for the opposition to day.

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.

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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.

Another good performance from “The Wasps” especially in the second half where they bossed the game, 2-1 scoreline makes game look far closer than was, Morton only came into game in a last five minute flurry at end of game, a well deserved victory albeit a bizzare winning goal.

Now the tenth time “The Wasps” have come back from going behind this season and extends their unbeaten run to six games going back to losing last minute goal to Ross County on 1st December, 2018.

Against the run of play in the first half Morton took the lead and it was that man Chris Millar scoring his 4th goal of the season, 3 in the league all against Alloa. The biggest talking point of first half was just before half-time when Morton keeper Ryan Scully punched Alan Trouten in the box but no penalty given.

It had been a frustrating first half for “The Wasps” and again it took a goal against us and half-time talk from manager Jim Goodwin to turn the game back in Alloa’s favour. Alloa equalised from the spot in 66th minute after Ryan Scully had brought down Alan Trouten and he slotted home his fifth penalty from open play this season his 9th in succession he has scored for “The Wasps” including penalty shoot outs in Betfred & Irn Bru Cups.

“The Wasps” winning goal was bizarre, Andy Graham’s headed across goal and Rory McKeown tried to clear, his clearance struck Dario Zanatta and spun towards the goal, where Kerr Waddell then sliced his clearance into the net for an own goal.

After this Alloa had two great chances to increase their margin as they caught Morton on the break, substitute Greig Spence being in great position and just after this was blocked Iain Flannigan’s net bound shot was saved by Ryan Scully.

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jim goodwin after home victory over morton

Delighted to get the win but I was really frustrated in the first half, I felt that Morton had one shot at goal and it ended with the ball in the back of our net, it was a scrappy goal, we didn’t compete well enough at the second ball, Chris Millar hits it well enough but I think we should have been doing better at it. So we went in at half-time very frustrated, we made a couple of tweaks to the formation and went with two up top instead of just one with Dario and played a diamond in the middle of the park and it worked well, and to the extent we spent 90% of the second half in Morton’s half of the pitch and we got our rewards.

We got the penalty obviously, Alan Trouten did brilliantly, the timing of his run, drawing the keeper and is brought down. The second goal is really fortuitous, I felt sorry for the kid, Kerr Waddell, I’ve scored plenty of own goals in my career so I know what it feels like, he obviously took his eye of the ball and sliced it into the back of the net, but we will take it no matter how it comes because I think on the whole balance of the play we deserved it to be honest and I think we should have had a stonewall penalty right on half-time as well, when Alan Trouten got completely wiped out by their goalkeeper, so justice from my point of view and I am really pleased for the players.

I was really angry at half-time and it’s the first time I have been for a long time, I am sick of giving teams a goal of a start and that’s been from the start of the season we have had to fight really hard to get any points on the board and that’s why I think we have had so many draws because we have had to come back into games which we should have won. Today I’m not going to  be too hard on the boys but next week I would like us to try and get our noses in front against St. Mirren and see how that feels.

The game at Firhill today was a massive game for both clubs and I said to the players a wee while ago let’s not worry about Partick Thistle and Falkirk, let’s just focus on ourselves and take it game by game and let’s start looking up the way, We are now only one point behind Dunfermline Athletic tonight, five behind Morton and seven points outside the Play-Offs, it would be absolute carnage if we managed to sneak into the Play-Offs, what would they do to try and stop us then! All joking aside we are just fully focused on our job which is to remain in the Championship this time next year, that is our main goal which has been since the start of the season and that still remains the case. We are not getting carried away, I said to the players to enjoy it, it was a fantastic comeback but we will come back fully focused again next week because we want to get into the next round of this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup, a great competition and we look forward to it, it’s a freebie for us St. Mirren will be massive favourites but again I fancy ourselves going there and I believe in the players and I think if we get things right on the day we can cause one of the upsets in the next round.

Six games undefeated I was conscious of the Ladbrokes Manager of the Month Award curse, people did speak about that but I am not a superstitious person, even at 1-0 down, I never really got to down because I have absolute faith in the boys, I still expected us to score, Alan Trouten now 15 goals for the season which is a fantastic return from the wee man but it is all about the team. The Manager of the Month Award is great but I said the other night it is a joint effort – great backroom staff, and you can be the best manager in the World but if the players don’t carry out your instructions then you are snookered. I accepted the award on behalf of all my staff and players and was delighted to receive it.

“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.

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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.