Reaction

“The Wasps” lost their unbeaten home record in the league this season, going down to another penalty kick. not for the first time the season Alloa have lost a game by the tightest of margins, having conceded at penalty after gaining the initiative in the second half of this match. Dumbarton had opened the scoring in time added on in the first half, but in the second period, Alloa took a strong hod in the game for the first time and derservedly equalised through Stephen Simmons, at this stage in the game it was the home side who were calling the tune, but ex Alloa keeper Jamie Ewings was to make vital saves which keep his side in the game before they snatched the vital winning goal after Jason Marr had fouled Andy Graham in the box. Alloa again pushed for an equaliser, but found Jamie Ewings in top form dening his old club.

paul hartley after defeat to dumbarton

I was happy with our second half performance, but I didn’t think we got going in the first half, the second half we did put them under pressure far more pressure especially their back four and we got our rewards with a great set piece and a great finish, I thought we were on top at that time but we gave away a penalty, you just can’t make tackles in the box, we have conceded three penalties already this season – by diving into challenges, that we shouldn’t be making and we were punished. We then had to chase the game a bit after that, but I thought we came out strong in the second half and were on top for large spells. The lead up to the winning goal it was never a free kick on this side but sometimes you don’t get these decisions, but Jason Marr went into a challenge in the box which was punished, you cannot make these challenges unless you are going to win the ball, but we just need to move on. James Creaney had to go off with a badly bruised ankle – so we will have to assess him over the next couple of days and see how he is but we have a fairly strong squad and we have an equal replacement in Jason Marr.  Every game is tough in this division there is no easy game but we knew that when we came into the league so we will be well prepared and go again on Tuesday when we train and will look forward to the game on Saturday against Raith Rovers at Kirkcaldy, where we will look to be back on our game.