Older supporters will have fond memories of Alloa’s last visit to Fir Park—a record-breaking cup upset. On August 13th, 1996, Alloa traveled to Motherwell for a 2nd Round League Cup encounter. In the club’s first competitive match of the season, Alloa had overcome East Stirlingshire 3-1 at Firs Park in round 1—with goals from Neil McAvoy, Willie Irvine, and Peter Dwyer against his former club. Managed by Alex McLeish, Motherwell was a fairly formidable force, with a squad containing players such as Tommy Coyne, Owen Coyle, Willie Falconer, Billy Davies, and John Philliben (Philiben was to be involved in another memorable Alloa match two years later—sent off for Stirling Albion as Alloa were 7-0 victors).
Alloa was a Third Division club at the time and was given next to no chance against their Premier League opposition. However, after 120 goal-less minutes of football, Alloa triumphed in the penalty shoot-out—with Jimmy Gilmour scoring the decisive spot-kick and goalkeeper Robert Balfour being something of an unlikely hero.
We played well and I thought we competed remarkably well over the 120 minutes – especially after playing extra-time on Saturday. You cannot be a manager of a third-division club and expect to beat a side from the premier division but I felt if there was to be a shock it could be tonight with Motherwell reeling after losing a couple of their players
Tom Hendrie, Alloa Manager
Alloa’s team that night was as follows: Robert Balfour, Craig Valentine, Neil McAvoy (Jimmy Gilmour), Mark Nelson, Mark Cowan, John McCormack, Kevin Kane, Stuart Mackay, Peter Dwyer, Willie Irvine, Barrie Moffat.
This was the first time in Scottish football history that a Third Division club defeated a team from the Premier League in a competitive match, with the Third Division newly formed just a few years earlier. Alloa were rewarded with a “home” tie against Celtic in the 3rd Round—the tie was played at Firhill to ensure a larger crowd. Alloa supporters experienced another memorable moment—getting back on level terms early in the second half when Paul McAneny scrambled home an equalizer to Andreas Thom’s first-half opener. But sadly and perhaps understandably, Celtic’s firepower of Jorge Cadete, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, and Paulo Di Canio eventually did their damage, and Alloa was beaten 5-1.
Historically, Alloa and Motherwell have sparsely met through the years—only facing each other on 12 occasions spanning over 100 years. This will be only their fourth Scottish Cup meeting—the others came in the season 1921/22, a memorable season for the Wasps where they were edged out of the cup by a single goal. Then in the 1953 Scottish Cup, Motherwell was 2-0 victors at Recreation Park. And finally, in 1986, a Dom Sullivan goal was not enough as Alloa lost again at home 2-1. Motherwell Manager Tommy McLean would be generous in praise and said, to Jimmy Thomson his Alloa Athletic counterpart, “You deserved a draw, but the Alloa boss quickly replied, The reality is its goals that count”.
The clubs have plied their trade in the same league on only three occasions—Division 1 in 1922/23 (a season covered brilliantly by fellow columnist Donald Pollock) and Division 2 in 1953/54 and 1968/69. Finally, in League Cup Group Sections in 1983/84, Motherwell repeated their 2-1 scoreline with Lennie McComb scoring for the Wasps. But Alloa did pick up a memorable 2-2 draw at Fir Park in the return game with goals from Davie Houston and Frankie Cole. That result, combined with the aforementioned 1996 upset, means that Alloa is unbeaten at Fir Park since 1969—54 years. Alloa only managed one more draw in the 12 fixtures, though, with Motherwell picking up 9 wins. But Alloa will be looking to achieve that first victory over Stuart Kettlewell’s men. They will be underdogs, of course, but they might just be able to channel some of that character from the 1996 and 1983 visits. One to look forward to in the New Year.
Thanks as always to “The History of Alloa Athletic” book by John Glencross and Stuart Latham for some of the statistics used in this article.
by Brian Roach
