Waspie

Agree with this. They say history is written by the winners and I think there's probably an element of that with the theory of us putting everything into the final league games of 2017/18 and that taking us through the play-offs. In truth we probably peaked in the semi against Raith and started to look a bit leggy in the second half of the second leg at Starks. The two matches in the final against what was a poor Dumbarton side by that point were a bit of a slog with injuries also taking their toll. We didn't score until the 93rd minute of the second leg. Had Ross Stewart not sclaffed that one in the chat would probably have been that we put too much into meaningless games at the end of the league season and had nothing left in the tank for the final! And there was probably some truth in that. Thin lines! I thought Goodwin got it wrong the year before but he perhaps went too far the other way in 2017/18 and it was a rather high risk strategy, unnecessarily so. Somewhere in between would make sense and by the sounds of it that's what Andy is looking at. We had lots of good players on the bench on Saturday who haven't played much. Giving them some minutes while keeping everyone else sharp (and resting anyone with any kind of knock) would be ideal. Certainly don't want to see Alloa busting a gut against Falkirk on the last day.

... bring on the play-offs

It was a great night at Cove and what a brilliant goal to seal the play-off place, even if we made it harder than it maybe needed to be! I was really disillusioned with the previous manager. I'm not so bothered about whether or not Alloa are winning or losing as long as we have someone in charge of the football side who has a clear plan about getting the best out of what they have, with a well organised and committed side on the park. Even as a novice manager Andy has had that pretty much right from the start. His team isn't perfect but everyone knows what they're doing, they are pulling together and when it works they are playing some lovely football. You couldn't ask for more. Obviously going to be a big job in the summer to replace the rather fantastic loan players - whatever league we're in - but will be fun to see how Andy approaches it. Have absolute faith in him to work well with whoever he brings in. Not even that bothered about going up as that would make for a really big rebuild but great to make the play-offs and absolutely no pressure on us now, can just go and have a real crack at it. Well done to everyone involved, it's been a terrific few months.

Felt like it must have been really enjoyable for neutrals but a bit more frustrating for Alloa who had to win it twice! But what a high at the end. Whenever we got the ball in attacking positions we were extremely dangerous and could have had more goals. We did struggle further back for control in midfield and had dropped out of the game after going 2-0 up. Still looked like job done anyway until we allowed Cove back into it with a gift and we were rattled for a spell there. It's to the great credit of the players that they bounced back and started creating chances again. The cross from Sutherland and header from Wales for the winner were fantastic, as indeed were Steven and Wales for the second. It's a terrific achievement to be back in the play offs and with two games to spare. Andy has been superb and the team (and several players) unrecognisable from what he inherited. When we are at it we have a side capable of giving anyone we might meet here a game. At the same time we can also be quite vulnerable at times. The lack of control and a cool head in the middle is an issue against better teams and Cove had us in there today. That's something to look at. But everyone involved today gave everything and it was a huge win. Well done Andy and the lads, absolutely brilliant .

Can certainly make a case for that swap at LB. Can make a case for Ethan there too though, or further up! I would leave Taylor Steven wide. He is well capable central but he has been so effective on the flank and a big part of our improved performances. I'd be loathe to change that. Hopefully get a big performance from the boys anyway. We are good enough to win but equally a defeat could make things very sticky indeed the next couple of weeks. Mon the Wasps

The two Alloa examples here provide a good insight. The 05/06 team were a shambles under Tom Hendrie in the first half of the season. Allan Maitland came in but we were 12 or 14 points adrift of 9th in late January. He tightened the team up and we started scraping points. As we got closer the arse fell out of Dumbarton's season and we secured 9th on the last day. With the momentum and feel good factor growing we got past Arbroath in the semi and pumped Berwick 4-0 in the first leg of the final. It was a good Berwick team, they'd got 76 points and lost the title on goal difference, and probably had a better squad than the Wasps, but Alloa were just flying by that point. The 2010/11 Alloa team had much better players and were in the top 4 at Christmas but had fallen apart and hit 9th on the last day. They had much better players than the pretty weak Annan side who beat them in the play off semi but they had no confidence, belief or fight. Momentum and form, or lack of it, is crucial, more so than overall quality of player I think. Of the sides currently battling it out to avoid 9th Annan might well be best placed in that respect, they've been doing really well to get back into the mix. Stirling or QoS might well find it a bit harder to get a head of steam up for a potential play off battle.

Well done City! The new team that McIndoe put together in very tough circumstances are better than the table suggests. With a wee bit of experience (had they kept Fontaine and See even) I think they would have picked up more points. Obviously did us a wee favour there tonight but I'm glad for players and fans regardless. Be nice if you could grab another one and make it back into double figures for the season.

Certainly one for debate! Bit of a frustrating afternoon for Quinn on Saturday with his final ball not coming off. He wasn't alone in that respect though. The diving is frustrating and on both occasions he has been booked for that of late we could have been in really good positions had he just kept going. I'm sure the management will be speaking to him about that. He is a dangerous player and a good option and I'm sure there's still more to come from him. Sutherland for me ideally a better option further up the field and can be a bit heart in the month at times further back. Cammy is a more solid LB - even though he isn't a full-back either. However, Ethan will bring more pushing on from LB than Cammy and he is coming on all the time. On his day a real danger coming from deep and a nightmare for defences to have to cope with a left sided attacker and Sutherland from further back. Tough call for the gaffer but great to have different options. I'm sure a strong LB will be a priority in the summer whatever division we're in.

Bit of a slog in very tough conditions. We needed to get the ball down more than we did and the final ball was frustrating on a few occasions when we were almost in, but easy to say that from the stand, not so easy if you're out there in the swirling wind. Didn't get the best out of Bobby in the deeper role this time. Defence and midfield worked really hard and PJ was terrific with some big saves. A draw was probably about right, we had better chances in first half and Montrose in the second. They'll feel they should have scored near the end but think given the pattern of the past 3 games between the sides that would have been particularly hard to take for Alloa. Point is fine given the Cove result and sets us up for another big game there next week. Hopefully not in a gale.

Think the point about being able to slow it down is key. For all that last week was brilliant we never really controlled the middle of the park; it was all a bit chaotic and Stirling did get a lot of chances. A better side like Montrose will take advantage so we'll need to be a bit tighter in there, while aiming to get the ball wide and do damage, that's where the game was won last week. Guessing Mackay comes in for Devine after a fine display from the bench last week. As the podcast boys mentioned Stevie looked understandably rusty at Forthbank so probably too early for a start. Great option to bring on for more control in the middle though. Probably means the big call is does Wales stay behind the striker, where he was great last week, or does he go back up top with Scougall behind. Both good options but I was so impressed by Bobby in that role last week and in how he knitted things together and got up to support Sammo, I'd be a little tempted to try it again. We've played well against Montrose in the three games and have 1 point. That's bound to be a real confidence booster for the Mo. We really need to turn it around if we're going to stay on course for a shot at the play-offs.

He'd need to bring a wee bit more on the ball for that, I think, but hopefully that will come with time and confidence. Might be less of an issue with a different kind of partner in fairness. While Roberts is also very good he and Miko are liable to be a bit harum scarum together, all tackles and drive, which can be very effective and is certainly great to watch, but at times means you lack a cool head and wee bit more composure in there. Horses for courses! Miko's career seemed to really hit the skids after his initial successful loan spell with Arbroath and he obviously didn't have a great start with us, he deserves great credit for coming in and doing well after new year. Hopefully loads more to come from him. Might we here the Finnish tune over the tannoy before the end of the season Totally agree about MacIver. I thought he could potentially be a good addition for Falkirk in the right role but he's done better than I expected. Also feared that he might well do lots of effective link up work but not score many, and Falkirk fans would be unlikely to tolerate a striker who didn't score. He got off to a great scoring start though and took it from there. Interesting with MacIver, loads of managers have seen something in him but McGlynn the first one to really get it all out of him, right role and right people around him. Big challenge for him a level up but he's good enough and main thing again will be can he get enough goals. Brings so much through bringing others into the game but will obviously need a decent return himself. If he could finish consistently he could go still higher but hard to learn that composure. Going back to the Binos, there were aspects of their performance on Saturday that were ok. They created more chances against us than Kelty, QoS or Annan did and looked decent going forwards at times. The fundamental issue was the keeper. Goals change games and if you're gifting the opposition a two goal lead you aren't going to win very often. It was absolutely ideal for us as it brought Stirling out a bit and allowed us to roast their slow defence. But if Stirling can avoid the calamitous goalkeeping they've got enough to stay up.

I posted this the last time too but anyway, I bought a couple from them a while ago. They aren't exact replicas of the old shirts but the quality is fine. They both took ages to arrive though and obviously some of the reviews online are mixed. I'd use them again but order at your own risk! And even more randomly, a wee bit of Alloa history from 100 years ago in case anyone is interested: https://waspshistory.blogspot.com/2024/04/jock-stirling-untimely-passing-of.html?m=1

I always give him great credit for his squad building . Couple of absolute crazy ones too but still makes for a very impressive ratio overall. Everyone seems very hopeful about the play-offs but still a fair bit of work to be done. Cove and Montrose both have easier fixtures on paper - albeit it didn't work out that way for us over the last couple of weeks. The next two games against Montrose and Cove absolutely huge. Fantastic to go into them on the back of a derby hammering and with (hopefully) the injury situation looking a bit better. Agreed on Wales and Steven, two class acts. Bobby did really well behind Sammo yesterday and while I like him at the top, his performance showed he is also a very good option in the middle of the three behind as well.

Nah, I was saying it for pretty much the whole Rice reign! His mishandling of what he had at his disposal was obvious and it took Andy about 5 minutes to sort it. In fact I'd suggest the idea that the previous win against Stirling was something of a turning point is deeply flawed, picking out one good performance from weeks of absolute rubbish. The occasional half decent performance under Rice never led to anything consistently cohesive. Had he stayed on after that Stirling game I've no doubt he would have quickly enough started changing things around again. And it was pretty revealing that on leaving that he said it was a good move for all parties. Being a manager isn't his bag.

There's absolutely no doubt about that. Rice generally signed well but struggled badly with setting up a team, not helped by his constant changing of personnel and formation. We were invariably disjointed and it was the quality of individual players that often pulled us through. Look at the two Stirling wins over us at the start of the season. Binos sat deep and asked us to break them down and we were clueless. Had Rice stayed I'm sure we'd have continued to underachieve and most probably currently be in the battle to avoid 9th. Andy Graham on the other hand immediately set the team up in a style that suits the players, the style fans had called for. That has seen players grow in confidence with Graham's man management skills also clearly key. I don't know where we'll end up this season and how Andy will do long term but he's already show he's much better than Rice regardless. I didn't think the Stirling squad at the start of the season was good, it was basically what wasn't a vintage League Two title winning squad, but they were well organised, good team spirit and still with momentum from promotion. Sitting deep against us in those games worked a treat, in part due to Rice's Alloa being clueless, but also a masterclass in sitting in, frustrating opposition, and ultimately shitfesting wins. I thought that the Binos would be fine over the season sticking to that model and with enough goalscorers at the other end to get you through, and that Young could try and add much needed quality as he went along. He has clearly tried to do that, but that also brings the risk of Stirling having to change style a bit and open up and go toe to toe. In that situation the rather slow defence, which was a strength when it was sitting deep, becomes a bit of a weakness. The momentum from promotion doesn't last forever either. Best hope is make it over the line then aim to really strengthen throughout the squad in the summer.

Well if you're looking to try and get some momentum going again that's not a bad way to start . Tough afternoon for Blair Currie who had a nightmare early on. We started the game well and the wide men were causing Stirling bother but the goalkeeping was horrific and really killed Stirling. He ended up making some good saves later on but damage was done. Still, credit to Alloa for some good football into the wind in the first half and crowned by a great goal from Sutherland just before the break. Second half was pretty flat and we were coasting home until we gave away a gift of our own which Spencie finished well. Ultimately worked in our favour as Stirling really tried to then push on and get back into the game, leaving us loads of space at the other end, which the boys exploited. Really happy for Roberts who looked more like himself and took his goal very well. Could certainly improve on aspects of the performance but can't complain with a 5-1 away derby win and in testing conditions. Worrying to lose Devine and have to hope that's not the end of his season. On the flipside, great to see Hetherington making his return from the bench. Well done to Andy and all the players, great response to get back to winning ways and sets us up nicely for two huge games.

Congratulations to the Warriors! Waited an awful long time for that and stumbled over the line a bit but clearly by far the best team in League Two this season. Always felt it was tough on a club like Stenny with a long and proud history not to have won a title and great to finally put that to bed. Hope everyone involved with the club has a terrific night

Agree with this, really need to be picking up momentum again if we are going to have a serious shot at making the play-offs. There were times during the winning run when we played some terrific football. Other times, like Stirling at home, we weren't great but we stuck in and came up with a wee bit of class to win the game. In the most recent games we were missing a few of the key men who can provide the wee bits of magic and too many of those who were available just a wee bit off it. Not easy to regain momentum in that situation but that's the challenge. If Stevie is fit enough I'd be very tempted to put him back in. If not, I'd go with Robbo and Roberts in the middle with Scougall further up behind Wales. Steven and Quinn on the flanks. Whoever plays they're going to need to be right up for it.

Congratulations to Falkirk. Obviously brought everyone plenty of entertainment the last few seasons but got it right this time and by miles the best side in the league. Marked it in some style there too. Enjoy your night Bairns .

Pretty frustrating afternoon. Thought we started well enough with the return of Steven and Wales making a big difference. Looked like we could open up Annan whenever we ran at them, indeed thought Annan were surprisingly lethargic for most of the first half. We weren't clinical when we had the chance to get into a decent lead though and paid the price when Annan equalised before half time. For most of the second half we were poor and couldn't get going at all. Annan much improved on their first half display. Last 10 or 15 we showed more urgency and might have won it - felt Buchanan should have scored that header (and Sutherland should have buried his similarly golden chance in first half) - but overall can't complain with the result, didn't do enough. Didn't think anyone really had a poor game, we just didn't get going. Think Robbo would have brought more drive in CM than Miko who ended up way too deep at times but still, Miko didn't play badly either. 1 point from 3 games against sides in the bottom half is potentially fatal for the play-off bid and disappointing after the run we were on. I'm not actually hugely bothered about promotion as we'd need a massive rebuild, which would also be a big ask for Andy at this stage of his career, but would also be a shame if the season petered out without having a real crack at the top four. Hopefully we can refocus and find some form ahead of the derby and the six pointers that follow. I never tend to have a go at refs but felt the official today should have brought out his yellow card for cynical fouls that stopped breaks. Happened on a few occasions and very frustrating. No yellow even when an Annan player tripped Roberts as he was breaking against an exposed defence - then kicked the ball away straight after to further slow it down. If you don't stop that kind of thing players will obviously keep doing it and why not. He was bang on with his yellow for Quinn and his comedy dive though! Fair play to Annan, might yet avoid 9th and if not I'd give them a decent shot at staying up through the play offs.

11-2 today and 11-3 tomorrow according to John's poster.

Expecting a tough game. We were pretty lucky to win last time Annan were at the Recs and their form has improved since then whereas we have obviously dropped off a little. Number of selection issues for the manager and a few of them depending on fitness. Wales back in up top and Steven back on the right too if he is fit. Those two crucial. Podcast touched on LD and think there is a question there. Such a talented player and potentially a key figure in the middle of the three behind the striker but has looked a bit off the pace, which is understandable given his long lay off. Do we leave him and hope he plays his way back into fitness and form or go with cameos from the bench? Strong case for Scougall or Cawley there. If Scougall does move up then Miko a decent option next to Roberts. Robertson is too - and based on the Accies second half Robbo and Roberts looked potentially the best pair we've seen since Stevie got injured. Really hoping to see Stevie soon as he remains the best option there. And hopefully Kurtis has had his batteries recharged this week, didn't think he was quite at his usual high standard against Kelty and QoS. Questions in defence too depending on fitness. Ideally two of the three natural CBs make it and Cammy for LB I think. Defence will need to be ready for a lot of balls into the box. Lot of questions there, who'd be a manager! Whoever we go with they're going to need to be up for it, Alloa just too flat the last couple of games.

Have to echo this, John an absolute legend for what he has done for Alloa for so many years and his collection is amazing. Must see event in Alloa (as well as the Wasps).

I didn't agree with all of the decisions yesterday but one key point here - Andy was missing a number of players whereas Brian Rice picked people out of position pretty much every week when he just didn't need to. Don't think it's a fair comparison at all as such, and also given Andy has clearly been going with men in their most effective roles until now. As printer has said, there was also logic behind the decision given Cammy has struggled a bit (and also questions over fitness I believe). With some questions over Sutherland at LB too I can see why he went with Robbo, who will always be solid even if it isn't his natural side. It wasn't an outlandish decision at all. All that said, I'd have moved Robbo over and put Sutherland at LB when Neil went off, but again you can see why he did it. Not comparable with Rice. The debate over Donnelly is interesting. Such a talented player and there were times against Kelty when he linked brilliantly with Coulson and Steven on both sides and Wales in front, but he's always a bit of an enigma and can disappear from games. He's still coming back from long term injury but as it stands with a full strength side I'd put Scougall back in that role (and Stevie with Roberts in the deeper two).

I only caught the first half on the stream today. Thought we started well enough and Buchanan should have scored the early chance. Opened up way too easily for the QoS goal, albeit it was tucked away very nicely. We maybe shaded the rest of the half without creating much. Can't comment on thereafter! Take out Wales and Steven and our attacking threat is obviously really diminished. Didn't help either that we had midfielders at full-back and it did look a bit makeshift. Really need other players to step up in those circumstances though and in the 45 I saw that didn't really happen. Still very much in it and hopefully be able to get something closer to the best team out in the weeks ahead. QoS do have some decent players despite their poor season and they'll hope with a wee confidence boost today that they'll pick up more points. Battle to avoid 9th looking really interesting!