Reaction

This is a game “The Wasps” will not want to look back at, in the first half neither team created many clear cut chances but in the second half there was no doubting Airdrieonians deserved their victory. Decsisions can change matches and certainly the penalty for the opening goal looked harsh. In these games the opening goal has proved vital in games already this season. Kevin Cawley was very unfortunate not to score a great equaliser for “The Wasps” his netbound shot striking the post before the rebound was struck over the bar by the onrushing Scott Taggart.

However most contentious decision in the match was the when Airdrieonians keeper Rohan Ferguson was not penalised for what clearly looked like he handled the ball outside his box?

In the second half the home side began to get on top and always looked likely to increase their lead. Alloa manager Jim Goodwin introduced Kris Renton and young Celtic loanee PJ Crossan before the hour mark, PJ’s pace and getting in behind their defence did begin to work before he pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury, this reduced “The Wasps” to 10 players as all three substitutes had been made.

With two minutes remaining Airdrie finally extended their lead when Sean McIntosh played a long ball through to Jake Hastie on the break and the young player sealed victory for Airdrieonians slipping the ball past Neil Parry in the Alloa goal.

jim goodwin after airdrieonians 2-0 win

Very disappointed, yes very poor, I didn’t think there was much in the game up till the penalty decision, it is one of these one’s the boys adamant that Daryll didn’t foul their player when the boy went down, but the referee gives it and the first goal in games are vital to be honest with you. We had a wee chance after Airdrie took the lead but Kevin Cawley’s effort hits the post but after that we didn’t offer enough to the game. I don’t think we merited anything from the game to be honest, Airdrie were the better team on the day and we need to give them credit for that.

There was a lack of cutting edge, and we are not creating as many chances as I would like and that is something we will need to work on. A lack of goals is a concern because the first goal in this league is hugely important, you saw that last week against Queen’s Park for us and the previous week against East Fife when it was against us, both games ending 1-0. Its not a time to panic or anything like that it is still very early on in the season, we still have new signings who still have to click in place and gel with the team but we need to get it sorted sooner rather than later but really disappointed all round.

There were big decisions in the game, the penalty then when their keeper picked the ball up outside the box, my view was the same as everybody else’s in the stadium that Rohan Ferguson picked the ball up outside the box – the linesman was running right along the line but didn’t make the call, big decisions but you need a bit of bravery to make them but we can’t rely on referee’s decisions to help us win games, the fact of the matter is there were far too many of our players not at it on the day and the players know that themselves. When we play to our potential and levels we are capable of we are a very good team, when you drop below that we become average and that’s what you saw today.

After losing the second goal we also ended the game playing with only 10 players after PJ Crossan appeared to injure his ham string, there was no point leaving the kid on the park to incur more injury or run about with torn ham string, the player’s health and well being was the most important thing, it was disappointing because in the short time he was on the pitch you could see glimpses of his speed and attacking threat and he offers us a different dimension but if that is as serious as it looks he could now be out for next four – six weeks. Callum Crane also picked up a knock and was struggling with an knee injury in final quarter of the game, so that is another injury we will need to assess.