Competition: Premier Sports Cup
Arbroath v Alloa Athletic
“The Wasps” ended their Betfred Cup Group C matches with a victory over Arbroath at Gayfield in a match they deserved to win by a more handsome margin than the 3-2 victory in a match they thoroughly deserved to win.
Peter Grant’s team played really well enjoying large spells of possession and looking to get onto the ball at every occasion with the diamond shape in midfield making sure everybody was involved in the slick passing game which Arbroath had no answer. The only criticism was the fact we weren’t more clinical in front of goal and should have scored more goals.
The opening goal came completely against the run of play when ex Wasp Greig Spence was fouled on the edge of the box and Bobby Linn drilled home the resultant free kick.
It was no surprise when Alloa took the lead after 51 minutes when Alan Trouten netted after Kevin O’Hara’s initial effort had been blocked.
At this stage of the game Alloa were dominant and should have been more dominant in front of goal as a one goal margin can be dangerous. Out of the blue Jason Thomson threw a ball into the box and aided by the wind it went straight over Chris Henry’s head and dropped in at the back post for a fortuitous equaliser. Arbroath then had their best spell in the game and threatened to turn the game on its head but Chris Henry saved well from Greig Spence in a frantic period.
The manager introduced both Robert Thomson and Andy Stirling who had both had a part to play in the winning goal, scored again by Alan Trouten. it was a great move and a goal fitting to win any game.
There were lots of positives to be taken from this display, no more so than putting a marker down to Arbroath how competitive the Championship will be. We now look forward to the opening league game of the season at home to Partick Thistle who will be looking to start this season far better than last.
peter grant at gayfield
I was pleased with an awful lot of today’s game but naturally disappointed at the goals we lost, the first one was another free kick, from a similar area to Tuesday’s nights free kick against Stirling Albion, that’s three goals we have lost from the exact same area giving silly free kick’s away, so that is disappointing and the second goal was a bit of a fluke with the wind assisting, but we made it hard for our selves, I thought we played a lot of good stuff but need to be more clinical and take care of the ball in certain areas, Arbroath is not an easy venue to come and I thought we played very well.
I want our wide players to be involved in the game as a team we need to attack together and not being out on the line not being involved, Kevin Cawley has too much ability to be out just on the wing and has been brought more into the middle to be involved more and I think he has had a big effect in every game we have played and is getting better and better, he is a great team player and talented individual.
We again go into this season the same as every other team, we are there to challenge, we want to win the league or qualify and aim for the promotion play-off’s, it is not all about survival, we have players who can play and we have to be brave enough to play, of course there are things we need to iron out but Jim Goodwin left a very good side here and hopefully we can build on that and be better, I am still trying to bring three or four players in to make the group stronger. We have Robbie Thomson coming back now from injury, we have not seen much of him that’s his first 30 minutes of competitive football this season and he is a different type of player as we also have with Kevin O’Hara as well, so we now have different types of strikers we can call upon, Andy Stirling came on today and did well but he has to be more consistent because he has the talent.
The players from day one when I joined the club have been fantastic, that’s great credit to the past managers who have went before me, they have set that standard and we now look to build on it and get better on the football pitch and the only way to do that is by the players learning, and bringing quality football players to the club to play along with them in that affordable market we are in.
 
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Alloa Athletic v Stirling Albion
Alloa Athletic had to come back from being one goal down against local rivals Stirling Albion to keep going their unbeaten record against “The Binos” since 7th March, 2009. Once again Alloa proved as they had on numerous occasions last season their ability to come back from going a goal behind, such is their character and will to win.
The Wasps made three changes from the team that had faced Hibernian at Easter Road, Chris Henry made his first competitive start, in place of Neil Parry who is still recovering from facial knock at Easter Road. Andrew Stirling and Liam Buchanan started in place of Adam Brown & Alan Trouten who were on the bench.
The first half of this match was not one to look back on, although “The Wasps” had the bulk of the play it would be fair to say there were not a lot of chances on goal.
The opening goal came six minutes in the second period when David Wilson curled home a beauty of a free kick to give the visitors the lead.
Game on, Peter Grant introducing Alan Trouten just before the hour mark which was to prove pivital. Alloa were noe pushing forward and getting the ball into the box and looking far more dangerous. It was fitting that Kevin O’Hara would score the equaliser as he had been a threat to the Albion defence all evening.
Stirling Albion introduced all three of their substitutions and were looking to manage the game out at 1-1, but “The Wasps” were looking to get a winner. Four minutes from time Andy Graham’s netbound header was pushed out by Stirling Albion goalkeeper Cameron Binnie and Liam Buchanan pounced to dive home and net the rebound, 2-1 to “The Wasps”
peter grant after victory over stirling albion
It is always great to win I have said that many times that’s what we are out here to do is win games of football, we got a bit frustrated because we didn’t move the ball quick enough and everybody was running all over the place, you need patience and you will get there, let the ball do the running. We think running about making wrong errors and killing space for other players that gave us a problem in the first half, even although we had a lot of the ball we didn’t really create enough chances and work their keeper enough, I’m not here to play pretty patterns I’m here to pass the ball to create chances.
The players once again showed great desire and commitment to try and do things which was asked of them, I thought Alan Trouten coming on changed the game for us, he was excellent. He gave us that little bit of space and the pass, with the intelligence he showed to find the space, not just follow the ball and I think that created space for others.
It is great for your strikers to get their goals, Kevin O’Hara got his first goal for the club but the most important thing is Kevin is getting a run of games again, I always wanted to have him as a striker and this will get his career back on track. Liam Buchanan does not need to prove anything at this level he is a goalscorer.
Neil Parry after suffering his injury at Easter Road on Saturday is aiming to be back for the opening league game against Partick Thistle, we are hoping it is not going to be too long term, young Chris who came in tonight made a few errors but his distribution was great and this will be great experience for him and a great opportunity for him.
At this time we are decent with the ball, but still have a bit to go, when we do not have the ball we need still to be chasing the ball down to get behind it, so we need to be much tighter when we do not have possession.
Going forward to Arbroath on Saturday this will not be an easy game, Dick and Iain demand the maximum from their team, so we know what we will be up against, they will not make it easy for you, so we will know you are in a game every time you play Arbroath, the most important thing for us is the guys getting more minutes on the pitch. I now know the players I want to bring in and the areas in want to bring in, so it is just binding our time and waiting till the right players become available but we have a hell of lot good players at the club already.
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Hibernian v Alloa Athletic
After the disappointment of losing on penalties in midweek “The Wasps” bounced back on Saturday at Easter Road against a very good Hibernian side who are looking to break into the top four in the Premier League this season. Manager Peter Grant made one change from midweek giving Kevin O’Hara his first competitive start for the Wasps with Liam Buchanan on the bench.
Hibernian took hold of the game in the opening twenty minutes with “The Wasps” under the cosh, however gradually Peter Grant’s team got a foothold in the game and gained confidence. Alan Trouten just couldn’t get enough on a glancing header and Kevin O’Hara was using his pace to run at the Hibernian defence.
Prior to half-time the home fans were starting to get unsettled such was the spell the visitors started to impress on their Premier League opponents, playing some great possession football and usind the full width of the park on both wings.
The turning point in the game was the opening goal, which was to see Alloa keeper Neil Parry take no further part in the game after a collison with Christian Doidge.
Young twenty year old Chris Henry had to come on from the bench to make his first team debut. Hibernian having now got their noses in front looked to have regained their belief however their clinching goal to make it 2-0 in 84 minutes Chris Henry had no chance Tom James scoring his first goal for the Edinburgh club since joining in the close season, he is unlikely to score a better goal.
peter grant at easter road
I was delighted with my team, we knocked about the ball well after starting the game a bit shaky, but the players have had a lot to take in over only one, Thursday night training session, you would like to try and fix all the things you would like at once, but Jim had left the team in good shape anyway, so all we want is getting that balance correct with wee tweets here and there which I want to add and we need to do that slowly because it is a lot of information to put in over one training session.
The first fifteen twenty minutes we were trying to find our feet but after that I was really pleased with them, disappointed again with the goals which we lost, we have to work hard for every goal which we try and score but the opposition are getting goals which I believe we could do better but we tried to take the ball to Hibernian who are a very good side and could be challenging for the top four this season.
There was a spell in the first half when the home fans were getting on their teams back, which is an indication of what we were doing, while we had the ball the opposition couldn’t do anything although at times there was a couple of times we turned and went back the way when I think we could have gone forward and created more. We started with Kevin O’Hara who is different to some of the boys we have here, we have good players and we must trust them to play in that way. We need to defend as a group better at times, but all round I was really happy with our performance, we will not be facing a team of that quality every week and that’s the thing we need to be ready when the league games come around. We will use the next few games but suffered a couple of injuries today which is not great having such a small squad, I will look at that over the next few days and will be looking to add to the squad before the league games begin which is our main focus.
Neil Parry took a bad injury, he is going to hospital just now but they are talking about him possibly needing plastic surgery and stitches which is not ideal but he was brave to come at the opportunity and it was a complete accident so we have no problems with that we just have to deal with it and maybe make him a little nicer looking! It was a combination of injuries, his nose was bleeding, he has a scar on the top of his head and that’s the concern because the wound is too wide and that’s why he might need plastic surgery but he is a strong boy and a willing boy but he has went straight to the hospital.
I was delighted with Kevin O’Hara in his first start, he is a boy I have known for a long time as he played with my son at Falkirk and he played really well there, he just went off the radar for a little bit, as soon as I got the job I thought we needed someone a little bit different and I think Kevin can give us that, I want to look at him as a striker, I think that is his position although a lot of people have played him wide due to his pace, but I want to play him as a striker and get his mojo back and want him to score goals, I know he is more than capable of and if he is successful Alloa will be successful and that is why he is here, it is a big challenge for him, and great credit to him it is the first time he has went part-time, he did have an opportunity to stay full-time but decided to come to us so I it is up to him to push on and show the player he can be.
We are looking to strengthen the side there are some areas we are weak and if we got an injury we would be struggling but we have to be careful we don’t have the opportunity to bring in a player at any time that’s not the case anymore and we don’t have the finances to have a massive squad so if we are bringing any players in they have to be the right ones and although I have been recommended other players in fairness to the current squad having watched some of the players offered they are no better or not to the standard we already have at the club, we have good players at this club, so I will not be bringing in players for the sake of it they would have to offer something different or be better. One thing I knew I had was a group of footballers that will all fight for each other, they are talented boys with the ball at their feet, they want to play the game in the right manner but the bottom line is we want to win football matches, we don’t want to be nice and pretty and lose, we want to have a cutting edge and I think we can add to that and get better and not lose silly goals, I have a lot to work with but for effort and commitment I couldn’t fault my players.
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Alloa Athletic v Elgin City
“The Wasps” lost out after a penalty shoot-out in their opening Betfred Cup tie v. Elgin City at The Indodrill Stadium on Tuesday 16th July, 2019. peter Grant’s side were twice behind 0-1 and 1 – 2 before going 3 -2 ahead with fifteen minutes to go, but credit to Elgin City who never gave up and scored a late equaliser five minutes from time.
peter grant after defeat in penalty shootout
Obviously disappointed at outcome of tonight’s game but not the performance, the goals were disappointing, we had spoke about losing goals especially the second one, I had noticed in the Livingston game last week about our marking, I wasn’t happy with that, so we spoke about that and then conceded again tonight, “Robbo” apologised he is still a young man learning the game but we need that concentration level.
In general play, I thought we played a lot of good stuff but losing three goals from three set plays which we had spoken about, we shouldn’t be losing three goals from set plays and every goal we scored we had to work hard for. We had a lot of young boys on the bench this evening who had earned that opportunity; we are still looking to bring in new guys, which are important to build the group up which is important.
The cup is important for us, we want to win every game we play, that never changes and we will look to go and put out on a similar performances with the ball at Hibernian, but we need to be tougher with the ball and be hard to beat, we need to keep playing that way moving and turning the ball over but at set Plays, 80% in Championship are scored at set plays.
So pleased with generally our play but need to cut out silly mistakes.
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Alloa Athletic v Ross County
Four games in two weeks appeared a bridge to far for “The Wasps” on Saturday against Ross County at the Indodrill Stadium. In truth Ross County were worthy winners on the day but with the scoreline still at only 1-0, the second goal not coming until two minutes into time added on an the end of the game, Jim Goodwin’s players gave everything knowing that a draw on the day would have been good enough to win the section.
Ross County looked to bounce back from their midweek reversal against Arbroath at Gayfield and certainly Stuart Kettlewell & Steven Ferguson must have been pleased with the reaction, giving Alloa very little space and quickly closing players down and winning second balls.
The Wasps did well to go in at half-time at 0-0, thanks to some excellent goalkeeping by Neil Parry. The opening goal when it did come just before the hour mark had a touch of fortune about it, defender Callum Morris deflecting a shot across goal past Neil Parry.
The closest “The Wasps” came to getting an equaliser was through Greig Spence about fifteen minutes prior to the end of the game, his overhead kick left County keeper Scott Fox stranded as he watched as the ball creeped inches past the wrong side of the post.
Alloa manager Jim Goodwin could not fault his players effort on the day but did conceed County were physically stronger and taller and he is still on the look out to strengthen his squad.
jim goodwin after wasps go out to ross county
It was a disappointing day, I couldn’t have asked any more from my players in terms of effort from the boys but I think it was just one game too far, to be honest we had four games in two weeks and we have a very small squad and I think that showed today. We were a little bit leggy I am being honest but in fairness I think Ross County were the better team on the day, there is no arguments there. I went to watch them against Arbroath and I knew they couldn’t be as bad as they were on Wednesday night and I was expecting a reaction and I think they got that, they were the better team. We didn’t create anything of note, I can’t remember us making Scott Fox make a save. We are disappointed to have got eight points from a very difficult group, but were nowhere near getting through in the end. We knew had to get at least a point, to achieve nine points before a ball was kicked today, as it is a point today would have won us the group. It would have been great but unfortunately it just wasn’t to be – We need to pick ourselves up now and look forward to the league campaign starting next week.
I think if you look at the goals we conceded today, there was not a great deal we could do about them, we defended a corner well initially and it was a ball knocked back into a crowded box which takes a deflection and goes in, it was not like we had been carved open. The second goal we were committing bodies forward which wouldn’t have happened normally, so I’m not really bothered about the goals against it would be different if we had been getting picked off and lose the game to four or five goals I would be concerned, I’m not concerned the lads have put in a great about of effort in the last couple of weeks, we have been played well picked up some decent results, scored a lot of goals but the evidence is there that the squad is light and I will need to work hard this week to try and get some bodies in and help the lads out because I limited to the amount of chances in could make; I had a couple of defenders on the bench that realistically weren’t going to come on and change the game, the one change I could make was bringing on Adam Brown but it would be nice to have one or two more attacking options so that will be my main job before the transfer window closes.
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Elgin City v Alloa Athletic
The Wasps have put themselves in a good position after victory at Borough Briggs, Elgin this evening, the club’s first ever victory at the ground. The players were excellent from the off, carrying on from their penalty shoot out victory v. Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday.
The opening goal came as early as the second minute, Jake Hastie scoring his first goal for the club. Nine minutes later in was 2-0 Alan Trouten scoring his third goal in three matches and Jim Goodwin’s men had made a statement.
Elgin City made a strong start to the second period, with home manager Gavin Price looking for a reaction, however Jake Hastie’s second goal of the game, set up by Reis Peggie, killed the game.
jim goodwin after victory at elgin
Good to get a victory at Borough Briggs for first time another good monkey to get off our backs, but tonight was just a good team performance; right from the start of the game the boys were excellent, the goals were obviously important and being 2-0 up at half-time, I then thought Elgin came out and were the better team for the opening five minutes in the second half, but the third goal really killed the game off, it was a great ball from Reis Peggie and Jake Hastie had an excellent touch over the goalkeeper’s head and that really killed Elgin’s momentum and we were able to manage the game from there on in.
We have been in a very difficult group – Arbroath at home is a difficult tie, Dundee united another difficult game and then coming up here on a Tuesday night with all the travelling and everything else which could have been another difficult night but I think the players deserve a lot of credit for the way they went about the last two games, we have had three games in seven days which is very demanding on the players because how tight the squad is as well, we had a couple of suspensions tonight with Liam Dick and Iain Flannigan, two key players drop out the team and Reis Peggie and Jon Robertson came in and it was just like for like, that’s the beauty of having such a good squad, we still need to add to it, I think we still need two or three more bodies in, but quality and similar to what we have got and I think if we can get them in it will put us in a good place going forward.
It now goes down to a home match against Ross County, with only the winner guaranteed progression but with home advantage our confidence is high and hopefully everybody will come through the game unscathed, we have one or two with little knocks so hopefully they don’t come to much, but the boys are in great spirits at the moment and it certainly makes the trip down the road so much easier but we are looking forward to the Ross County game, we will be underdogs no doubt, Ross County will be up there at the top end of the Championship table competing to get back into the Premier League but we know if we go about our business in the manner that we have done in the last three games then we will certainly give them a difficult game.
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Dundee United v Alloa Athletic
The Wasps were victorious at Tannadice, winning 4-3 on penalties, but their second half display was worthy of victory within the ninety minutes, by the end of the game it was Dundee United who were hanging on with “The Wasps” going so close to clinching the winning goal
In was Jim Goodwin’s side who started the match the brightest with the Dundee United team looking very nervous. Greig spence flicking an effort into the side netting. United did look dangerous at set pieces in the box and Nicky Clark was unfortunate with a header which struck the woodwork before Frederic Frans bulleted a header past Neil Parry to give the home side the lead. Csaba Laszlo then watched his side have their best spell in the game, although Alan trouten nearly caught their keeper out of his goal prior to half time.
In the second half “The Wasps” took the game to their opponents showing great spirit and never gave up. They got their reward with eleven minutes left when Jake Hastie, who had been a torn in the flesh of the Dundee United defence with Frederic Frans giving away the penalty.
Alloa keep on going “Keeping Believing” and could have won the game in the regulation 90 minutes. Jake Hastie again broke into the United box and was brought down, but on this ocassion the referee awarded a free kick on the edge of the box.
“The Wasps” were faultless in their execution of the penalties:-
0 – 0 Stewart Murdoch – penalty saved
1 – 0 Scott Taggart – great way to celebrate 100th appearance
1 – 1 Fraser Aird scores
2 – 1 Greig Spence – great confidence and finish
2 – 2 Adam Barton draws game level again
3 – 2 Iain Flannigan – bottom corner finish
3 – 3 Declan Glass – did well in 2nd half
4 – 3 Alan Trouten – 2nd penalty converted in game
4 – 3 Paul McMullan penalty saved
jim goodwin after bonus point against dundee utd
I was really pleased with the overall performance, there was a spell after about twenty minutes of the first half I felt Dundee United were on top and they were on top for about ten minutes in that spell and they looked dangerous, but over the whole piece I thought the game plan was brilliant the boys carried it out to the letter, pressing them high, we knew they wanted to play out from the back, we went and locked on and caused them to make mistakes and kick the ball out the park and it eventually they started after ten minutes going long from their goalkeeper and played into our hands to be honest with Zac and Andy going to compete with Nicky Clark and compete for second balls. Early on in the game we had a number of chances I felt as well, half chances if you like, not clear cut chances but we certainly had the better of the early part of the game.
The goal against is disappointing, it was a fantastic ball in from Fraser Aird and it is “Land of the Giants” with United’s centre backs six feet four and the big boy Adam Barton in the middle of the park, we’re not that big a team so that was always going to be a danger for us, we were disappointed to lose that goal in that manner but second half I thought we were excellent. We came out and really went for it, Jake Hastie in particular, I don’t like singling boys out but in particular a young 19 year old who really took the game to Dundee United and he caused their right back all sorts of problems and for me I thought he should have had a second penalty as well, and that maybe goes and kills the game and we could have gone back down the road with three points instead of two.
I’m not having a go at the referee, I really like Steven he is one of the better referee’s in the country and a really good guy as well so I’m not going to argue over six inches but for me it was on the line and if it’s on the line it’s in the box that’s the rules. I thought it was a penalty but it doesn’t matter we will take two points at a difficult place to come, I think it is 40 or 50 years since Alloa last won at Tannadice, but we came here to win a game of football, to get that monkey off our back if we had scored the second penalty, but it was not to be, I thought the quality of the penalties in the shoot out were unbelievable – Taggart’s top corner, Spenny top corner, so really good quality penalty kicks, but big Neilly will get all the credit for the saves that he makes. The players put themselves forward and backed themselves, they have that confidence to go and do it, but I thought it was strange when we went and took penalties into an empty stand, I don’t understand that, I thought the games is about entertainment for the fans, so why take the penalties 100 yards down the park into an empty stand?
It was a great afternoon for us, it puts us in a really good position, we now go up to Elgin on Tuesday night, the boys will need to recover well because as you can see we are a very tight bunch very low on numbers at the moment, so we need the boys to recover properly and go and have another difficult game at Elgin in midweek and only if we win that it puts us in a good position.
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Alloa Athletic v Hibernian
Jim Goodwin and the players can be proud of their performance yesterday against a Hibernian side who are clearly in a rich vein of form and will look to impose themselves on the Premier League this season, this was a huge improvement from “The Wasps” after the disappointment at Links Park. Losing an early goal after only fifteen minutes could have unsettled the players but to their credit they stuck to their task and were unlucky not to equalise when Alan Cook had his netbound shot cleared off the line by Hibernian captain Darren McGregor.
The second goal which made it an uphill task was questionable on two accounts, firstly Jon Robertson was fouled in the middle of the park before Hibernian broke and Simon Murray appeared to handle the ball as he scored the goal.
Martin Boyle hand been a handful all day for the Alloa defence and it was him who set up all three goals, the third a bullet header by Simon Murray. “The Wasps” had one last chance when Kris Renton was allowed to break through but his chip shot was saved by keeper Ofir Marciano.
jim goodwin after hibernian game
To lose the game 3-0 is disappointing, but I think in terms of how we played overall it was quite pleasing. I think if anybody had been at our game in midweek at Links Park we were really poor and I asked for a reaction today and I think we got one, I think we played a lot better in possession of the ball than we have played in recent weeks, I thought we defended well enough for most of the game and when I look back at the goals I think – the first one was a decent goal from Hibs point of view, they cut us open, defensively we could look at that. The second goal I felt it was a foul in the middle of the park when Jon Robertson was given a wee nudge, it might have been soft at the time but I had seen them given throughout the afternoon, so I would like a look at that one again, but when it went to 2-0 its an uphill task, the third goal from Hibs point of view was a fantastic ball into the box, a great run from Simon Murray and a great header, sometimes you just have to hold your hands up, if you lose good goals like that, when teams have to do a lot to score, sometimes you just have to accept it. Overall I thought the performance was better than what we have been putting in lately. I Would much rather go into the Raith Rovers game on the back of that performance than the performance last Tuesday night against Montrose at Links Park.
The players were claiming for a handball at the second goal, it looked like he knock it in with his hand but we were more concerned on giving a good account of ourselves, Hibernian were expected to turn up and win, they had scored four and six goals in their past two Betfred Cup ties, we knew how difficult the group was going to be, we knew how difficult our task today would be, at 1-0 I felt if we just stayed in the game we would get an opportunity but the second goal killed that thought. Hibs are a very good side and Neil Lennon is talking about finishing second in the league behind Celtic and try and get as close as they can. They are two divisions above us they have loads of quality, a team full of internationals, I look at his squad and his bench you can only but envy his choice of players he has behind him. Hibs are a big club and they have great expectation.
I felt my boys did well today, to stick with them as well as we could today, there is two divisions between us and I’m pleased our players were brave enough to go and get on the ball and we tried to play when we could, I would have liked the result to be a bit closer but it wasn’t to be it has been a disappointing tournament for us this season overall, we need to take the positives from today into next Saturday when it really matters in our opening league fixture against a very good Raith Rovers side. We want to get off to a winning start.
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