Reaction

On Saturday Alloa Athletic defeated Neale Cooper’s Peterhead side 1-0 in a game played in dreadful conditions at Recreation Park, the driving rain and gale force wind made the game difficult for the players and difficult to enjoy for the 331 spectators who endured the conditions. However two back to back victories have now seen the team move off the bottom of the division and have now moved up to eighth, lets hope that this is a positive sign and the team are now on road to recovery. Although Alloa won the game 1-0 their only fault on the day was not scoring more goals, such was their dominance. John Grant had a great chance in the first half but drove over the bar, then Dougie Hill when on a solo run and his rocket shot was pushed over the bat by Michal Kula. The goalkeeper pulled off another outstanding save a minute into the second period, diving down to save a rocket from former Peterhead youngster Kyle Macaulay. However, the Wasps did find the net with the only goal in 68 minutes. Sean Fleming attempted to head clear in the box but Grant pounced to drive into the net from 12 yards. Macaulay could have added a second, but after moving in for a cross by Andy Scott, he shot wide of the right post.

allan maitland after peterhead win

Obviously it was a day when the weather was going to have a huge influence on the game, but we have waited a long while to see our team being professional and today I thought for the first time this season we were professional – we deserved to win. I thought for the whole ninety minutes it is probably the best we have played continuously, our concentration level was high, professionalism was good, when we had to stop the game I thought we stopped it quite well.

The only criticism is the fact we could have scored more goals. We had a great chance in the first half when John Grant knocked ball over the bar and later Kyle MacAulay in the second half could have settled the game, and the two young boys at the end also could have scored. Our goalkeeper was required to make one save and he did it, we defended well throughout and I think to be fair to Peterhead they are just in a situation at the moment where we were maybe three or four weeks ago when things are just not breaking for them at the moment, the ball in the box was constantly breaking for us, we were maybe just getting the bounce of the ball that we needed but confidence and good luck always comes when you work really hard – our team have been working hard in the last two or three weeks to get this right – it makes a change to pick up a Sunday paper and read what the press has to say. I will only know if we are really on a road to recovery after four or five games. Certainly we are pleased to have won the last two games and we will go to play Raith Rovers next Saturday with more confidence. On the down side Pat Scullion had to be substituted in the second half with a dead leg, while young Greig Spence signed an extention to his contract which has been extended till May, 2011.