Reaction

The Wasps won Saturday’s local derby at Ochilview against East Stirlingshire but the feeling at the end of the game was relief rather than joy in a game which should have been all over in a first half such was the gulf between both sides. The good thing is the way manager Paul Hartley has the team playing their football but for the supporters at Ochilview they had to hold on until the final minute to claim victory, it should have been so different. While East Stirling competed for every ball, we never punished them, with too many passes, especially in the final third not penetrating, the players are still finding their feet and are desperate to impress, there is no doubt we are moving in the right direction and another three points away from home are very welcome. A win is a win and the team are improving every week, Robbie Winters making his league debut was class and will be a great asset to the club.

paul hartley after east stirling game

In the first half the game should have been out of sight with some of the football we played but at times we tried to walk the ball into the net! Our two centre backs again were terrific, it’s our first clean sheet of the season – which is one of the things I had been stressing to the guys to strive for, but the main thing was to pick up full points and we are happy to achieve this. We didn’t expect this to be an easy game, conditions weren’t great – the wind was with us in the first half, but East Stirlingshire had that advantage in the second half. We still tried to play football and on another day we might have had two penalties in the second half, but we will take the three points. The team is still learning and getting to know each other and certainly winning away from home is always good. We will get better I have said that to the players – some of our decision making at times could have been better , but we will work on that in training this week. It is great to attract Robbie Winters to the club, he brings a bit class to the squad , some of his link up play was first class and we have only had one training session together so his understanding in the team we get better, he has a proven track record and he has quality written all over him.

john coughlin – east stirlingshire manager

Today it would be fair to say Alloa could have been three or four up in the first half, they missed some really good chances and I was hoping to get to half-time at 0-0 but then we gave away a silly free kick just on 45 minutes, we didn’t defend it and it has cost us the game in the end, because we have matched them for effort in the second half, we are a young team and just need a break. On another day when Steven Jackson hits his shot off the underside of the bar it would have went in the net instead of coming out but it wasn’t to be our day. We have a very young side and lots of inexperience, when I saw Robbie Winters in the Alloa team sheet today, my heart was in my mouth – because I knew he would be a problem for us, we have young centre backs learning the game and hopefully they will not have to face a player of his ability every week but it will help them learn the game quickly.