Reaction

Today’s game against Arbroath at Gayfield Park was played in horrendous conditions, with high winds making a mockery of such an important game for both sides. The game was in doubt even before kick-off with conditions at the ground making it impossible to play a meaningful game of football. David McClune had injured his hamstring at training on Thursday and missed the game, while Brian Carrigan was on the bench. Throughout the match the ball was either in the air or out of play, it was near impossible to play constructive football. Once the game reached half-time and the score line drawn at 0-0, the surprise was that the teams emerged for the second period, the referee had wanted to abandon the game at this point, but Arbroath manager John McGlashan wanted to play on. In the end the game was decided on a missed place challenge, when Colin Cameron burst into the box and referee Colin MacKay deemed Dougie Hill had caught the ex Scottish International player and awarded Arbroath a penalty which Steven Weir scored to give “The Red Lichties” a valuable three points and push Alloa Athletic back down into the relegation zone. Brian Carrigan did come on for the final nine minutes but this was not a game to judge any players ability on, as the only winner was the weather.

allan maitland at gayfield

Today’s a simple thing, I don’t know how many times the ball went out of the park, I don’t know how many times they had to get a different ball it was ridiculous, the game should never have been on from the start.
There was a lot of doubt at the beginning, there was a long chat with the referee and at half-time, the referee wanted to put it off, but John McGlashan, the Arbroath manager didn’t want the game called off, quite rightly his team had battled against the elements of the first half and he felt they could have an advantage in the second half, but if there is a spectacle there for the spectators I’m missing it?
I think the game was a joke, I didn’t think it was a penalty kick either, I thought the whole thing was a farce from start to finish. Both teams tried their best, couldn’t do anything about it, was there a shot in the entire game, I don’t remember any? And any one who paid their money to see that game should be refunded it was a joke, and I would have said the same thing had we won it was just never a game of football. The game should not have been on, it is as simple as that, they played better in the first half than we did, the second half we were better and the penalty kick, I didn’t think it was!