Reaction

“The Wasps” will look back on this game and have reason to believe they had the chances to end their dismal run of results against Queen of the South at Palmerston Park where they last won in April, 2003.

The difference on the day was Stephen Dobbie, the experienced striker who returned to the club in the summer from the English Premiership and recently made his 100th appearance in his second spell for Queen’s. The game in the first half went from end to end with both teams having chances, Neil Parry had to look sharp to deny the home side from opening the scoring, Jason Marr was also on had to clear a Derek Lyle header off the line, but Alloa had their chances as well with Jamie Longworth & Jordan Kirkpatrick unfortunate with chances which went inches over the bar. Home keeper Lee Robinson then had to do well to block a Greig Spence shot.

However in 41 minutes Stephen Dobbie scored to break the deadlock and it with a shot which went in off the post. Two minutes later a great Alloa move saw Scott Taggart cross from the right wing, Greig Spence dummied the ball brilliantly, giving Jamie Longworth a shot on goal which cruelly crashed off the far post.

In the second half Alloa came out the strongest and again had efforts, another Jamie Longworth effort being blocked by keeper Lee Robinson, when he knew little about it, but was in the right place at the right time!

At this stage Alloa were on top but could just not get the goal to draw the tie level. Kevin Cawley had a long range effort and Greig Spence tried an acrobatic effort after Jim Goodwin’s initial shot had been bouncing about in the box.
Again the run of play Queen’s punished Alloa for not taking their chances and hit man Stephen Dobbie headed in the killer second goal. To their credit Alloa never stopped trying and Jordan Kirkpatrick kept pushing the team forward. Luke Donnelly was introduced to inject more pace into the Alloa attack. Stephen Dobbie might have grabbed a third but his header went into the side netting as “The Wasps” pushed forward.

A good performance from the team and on another day could have extended their stay in the Irn-Bru Cup.

jim goodwin after irn bru cup exit at dumfries

I thought we gave a good account of ourselves, I thought we played reasonably well, there wasn’t a lot in the game and Stephen Dobbie was the difference between the teams, a bit of quality in the first half, a great finish, the second goal we were a wee bit disappointed with that too be honest with you, I thought we could have defended it better, we could have stopped the cross initially and he got a free header at the back post which was disappointing, but overall we had our chances, in the first half we had a couple of one on ones and in the second half Jordan Kirkpatrick had an effort inches over the bar and Jamie Longworth had an effort off the post, but goals change games don’t they –  the game could have went either way and I’m really pleased with the lads effort, no one could fault their commitment or attitude and on another day we might have nicked it.

I think we caused them problems at times going forward, it was an end to end game, it was a bit stretched and open in the first half, I said at half time there was a big space in the middle of the park, both sides were counter attacking and it was a bit back and forth to much but we controlled the match a bit more in the second half, but as soon as the game goes 2-0 it was a different game, we were then chasing the game and trying to get back into the game we committed  lots of bodies forward, but I still have to say I am really pleased with the all round performance, obviously disappointed not to be in the semi-final.