Reaction

The game turned out to be the type of game everybody would have expected tonight, two teams who have been playing a lot of football recently, both sitting at the top of the league, the game means a lot and I felt the whole game was really tense. Not much in the game , we scored which was a well worked goal, it looked like the home keeper thought the shot was going past the post and never moved, but certainly it was a good goal from Alloa’s point of view Bomber did well, he got a good lay off from Bryan Prunty and took his chance well. It was similar to two efforts Cowdenbeath had in the first half, but both went wide. Neither goalkeeper had much to do, it was a really hard battle with both teams very committed and it was a mistake near the end from our goalkeeper David Crawford who has made very little mistakes this season, made a mistake at their goal by dropping the ball and John Dempster was on hand to put away the loose ball. Andy Scott then made things worse by getting sent off, he was complaining to the linesman that the throw in was an Alloa throw in which led to the goal, the linesman looked confused so the referee gave the throw to them, they fire the ball into the box and score and although it was a mistake that is what Andy Scott was upset about, however I cannot afford to have players sent off and that is now another problem for us when we are currently missing so many players, that was not the only incident the players felt the decision had went against them, but it was a hard battle, a point is probably a fair result , two teams very committed with not a lot of football on show and in the end a draw was a fair result.

allan maitland after stenny victory

There’s not much doubt that Stenhousemuir were the better side today, I thought they played really well – we had so many injuries and with Andy Scott suspended and John Grant’s girl friend going into labour last night, so he wasn’t able to play either and that all seemed to catch up with us today because we hardly strung two or three passes together but this team has got a magnificent spirit – I don’t think we created a chance in the 88 minutes, their goalkeepers not had a save to make, Chris unfortunately for them made a mistake in the closing minutes which is so unlike him and David Gormley did what good strikers do, and Bryan Prunty’s finish for the winner was absolutely magnificent, but as a result it is really difficult for them it’s a hard result for them they deserve so much more, from our point of view it’s an absolutely vital victory I’ve said before if you win your home games you won’t be far away but I thought I had seen everything at football with last weeks game at Stirling and then this weeks game when we were really not playing well to win these two games has been incredible so it’s a great victory for us but we are under no illusions the team looks as though it’s really suffered with the injuries and everything else and I think that I am asking boys out there to do a mans job and it’s really difficult for them but great credit to them all, particularly Jason who I thought done really well when he came on and helped set up the first goal but we will need to play better than that if we are hoping to go on and win this league. Andy Scott will be available for Tuesday night, David McClune is getting closer – I have already pushed players when they are not quite ready but I have got to be aware of the fact that we have a game on Saturday again, once we get past Saturday we have a break of a week and at the moment we look as though we really need that. We are asking people to do things that can be unfair – effort and spirit is magnificent what we lack some times on the day we make up with these traits. As I said already it’s a difficult day for Stenhousemuir who had a great chance to go 2-0 up and that would have killed the game but Bryan Prunty and David Gormley were brought to this club to score goals and we need them. And whether that’s a last minute against Arbroath or last minute today Bryan Prunty’s goals are going to be absolutely vital for us – he has been magnificent. We need to get through Tuesday nights game and then Saturday’s game and the break of a week will be very welcome.