The Alloa Athletic Thread

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

A long but good day out on Saturday- nice town, nice ground and locals all really friendly. Buckie definitely gave us far more of a game than the result suggests. After Alloa equalised I didnt sense the outcome would be in much doubt though. Wasnt vintage stuff from Alloa, but we had plenty of regular starters out. Hogarth made some really good saves which was encouraging- nothing spectacular but just stood strong when Buckie were putting pressure on our goal. Obviously Sammon hitting the goal trail was great to see, and he was too good for them overall. Similarly Roddens goal was a really well placed header at a key moment of the game to put Alloa ahead for the first time. Miller also looked decent in the middle of the park, particularly in Scougalls absence which was a real plus point. 

I thought O'Donnell had a decent game and was always an outball- but we still look far more dangerous going forward on the right- with Taggarts deliveries- than we do on the left.

Still in with a chance of qualification from the group, although tomorrow nights game will be tough and the rest day has fallen pretty favourably for Dunfermline looking ahead to the last game on Saturday. Not that it really matters all that much anyway.

[BFTD]

Sorry if I've missed it, but what's going on with wee Kev and Jon Robertson? Injuries, or just resting for the last few games?

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

Cawley on his honeymoon, just got married. I think Robbo might just be on holiday but not 100%- might be something work related too.

[BFTD]

2 minutes ago, Father Barrys Sign (Top Half) said:

Cawley on his honeymoon, just got married. I think Robbo might just be on holiday but not 100%- might be something work related too.

Aww, bless.

Not quite Liam Buchanan spawning triplets, but congratulations to him regardless  

[Waspie]

That was a good performance tonight, after first 25 mins or so Alloa were the better side with plenty of good performances throughout the team. Defence strong with Stanger playing very well. Again liked Miller and thought King put in a shift which was encouraging. With Cammy also looking like he is capable of kicking on and Robbo to come back there are reasons to be hopeful about the midfield. Strikers worked hard but we clearly need to find another forward with pace and a goal threat to add some cutting edge. That and another LB should be the priorities at this stage. Encouraging night though. 

Should add, bit gutted if that was indeed the last stream tonight. For fans who aren't local it's been brilliant to see the games online the last couple of years. Well done and thanks to all involved. Hopefully it will be back one day. 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Waspie

[Kevchenko]

Missed opportunity tonight against a pretty poor County side. Gave them far too much respect in that first 20 minutes and stood off them. 
 

Performance from there on was encouraging though, thought we played a lot better tonight than we did up at Buckie. Certainly lots to be positive about going in to the season. 
 

Miller keeps looking more and more comfortable, but I thought MacIver was the standout tonight. He didn’t stop all night, won a hell of a lot in the air, and was very unlucky to hit the post. He also did well to win the penalty. Think I’m preferring him playing in behind Sammon as opposed to up with him when they both play, and he is looking much better when he takes on the role of the ‘tall man’ when Sammon goes off. 
 

On Sammon, pretty frustrating night for him, capped off by that shocking penalty. Could see Taggs heading up to take it and Sammon keeping hold of the ball, was a pityful effort, especially as the keeper was basically already over that side before Sammon even rolled it in to his hands. 
 

Overall we lacked a bit of quality with final ball from out wide - the one time we did get a decent ball in we hit the post. 
 

Can’t say I seen the same performance from King as Waspie tonight, thought he was as anonymous as usual. Noticing he actually gets smaller when he jumps for a header!
 

Finally, left back. That was as poor as Church has played in an Alloa shirt. The defending for the 1st goal was terrible - could completely understand if someone like White had peeled on to him, but to stand there and let someone who is 5 ft nothing in for a free header isn’t on. Don’t like having a right footed player at left back, but I would have Taggs or Howie (is he on holiday?) starting ahead of him, as well as O’Donnell.
 

On Cammy, didn’t get much chance to get in to the game tonight but liked that he was brought in behind the front two - long term I think that’s where he would be most effective.  

[LeodhasXD]

It's a bloody miracle we managed to stream tonight. One of the most stressful nights since Pixellot went down. Just this time I ended up being able to mitigate it a little.

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

Thought there was definitely more positives than negatives last night.

• Defence looked fairly solid after a few flutters in the opening stages of the game- with Stanger, Graham and Taggart all performing well. Goalkeeper once again stood tall when called upon and looks a really decent acquisition. Not keen on Taggart at left centre back, but the guy is so consistent you could really put him anywhere on the field
• Church did lose his man for the County opener, and he knew it. But to Countys credit it was a decent delivery that hung in the air and asked questions.
• Sammon wanted the penalty and after his Saturday hat-trick thats pretty normal. If Scougalls on the pitch he takes it. I did have a feeling he would miss, particularly after the short delay as the ref sorted out a bit of jostling on the edge of the area. Not the big mans best night but he put in a proper shift as usual
• We carried far more of a threat and purpose when Cawley and Scougall came on the pitch- no real surprise there but we played some really good stuff 2nd half.
• MacIver (who has taken a bit of time to get going in pre season) and Rodden both put in decent performances. MacIvers header looked in all the way but unfortunately hit the post.
• Khyyam was busy and being a general nuisance to the County defenders from the bench. Looked like he did the job the manager asked of him.
• Decent competitive game with a good tempo from the off and even a wee bit of nastiness every now and then- enjoyed it

[KierenAAFC]

Disappointing not to take anything last night as there was plenty of opportunities to do so. Probably our strongest performance so far in the Premier Sports Cup. 

Ross County started strong and moved it about well. Their two wingers were causing Church and young McLaren all sort of problems. They are quality players though, so no slight on us for that. The goal though is so cheap and like mentioned above is really poor defending, not much excuse for the space and time a player of Sims size has in the six-yard box. Have to agree, it wasn't Church's greatest night. Plenty of opportunity to cross and most evaded any Alloa attackers. Church wasn't alone in that though.

Was surprised to see Sammo step up ahead of the likes of Taggs. However, when your hat-trick striker says he wants the penalty, he gets it. He won't be on the next one, that is for sure! Frustating night for the big man after the highs of Saturday. Hopefully doesn't dwell on it too much.

Plenty of positives to take from that. Jay Hogarth looked solid. Agree with the above regarding Murray Miller growing in this role and looking for tidy. Stand out for me was George Stanger though. He looked shaky game one or two of the friendlies, however, very comfortable now. Won pretty much everything, good pace tracking back and really confident driving the ball out dribbling. Impressed by him. 

We won't come up against a team of that quality every week so there is definitely room for optimism. Kevin Cawley coming back in made us a lot better, same with Stef Scougall too. Hopefully this trend continues when the likes of Jon Robertson coming back. Reckon he could really be the glue of that midfield and hopefully limit the amount we are going long. Still a body or two short, goals most notably but hopefully the boys get the rub of the green soon. Rodden tries hard and is energetic, hopefully goals come for him.

Be interesting to see how we approach Saturday, I am sure a few of the team are pretty tired after a gruelling pre-season and cup schedule. All the priority has to be on a week on Saturday.

Edited July 20, 2022 by KierenAAFC

[LeodhasXD]

 

[BFTD]

Thanks again to @LeodhasXD for all his efforts with the streaming. A real shame that we can't keep it going.

Does this mean an end to the commentary on the highlights? Yourself and @KierenAAFC have been excellent. Likely pie in the sky stuff, but the live commentary feed for spectators you mentioned a while back would be tremendous.

[LeodhasXD]

3 hours ago, BFTD said:

Thanks again to @LeodhasXD for all his efforts with the streaming. A real shame that we can't keep it going.

Does this mean an end to the commentary on the highlights? Yourself and @KierenAAFC have been excellent. Likely pie in the sky stuff, but the live commentary feed for spectators you mentioned a while back would be tremendous.

I could do it right now however that'd be using broadcasting on FM. Okay they kinda ignore small range devices but still in very legally grey area.

Nah I just need a week or two's peace to work out how much we need to cover the costs of streaming outwith the UK and Ireland. Cuts down the potential audience.

Which is completely unrelated to our upcoming VPN partner.

[Kevchenko]

2 hours ago, LeodhasXD said:

I could do it right now however that'd be using broadcasting on FM. Okay they kinda ignore small range devices but still in very legally grey area.

Nah I just need a week or two's peace to work out how much we need to cover the costs of streaming outwith the UK and Ireland. Cuts down the potential audience.

Which is completely unrelated to our upcoming VPN partner.

VPN partner? We getting a vaping partner as well?!

[LeodhasXD]

 

4 minutes ago, Kevchenko said:

VPN partner? We getting a vaping partner as well?!

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of Conor Sammon's Alloa hat trick.

In all seriousness VPN's are a very useful tool.

[BFTD]

34 minutes ago, LeodhasXD said:

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of Conor Sammon's Alloa hat trick.

In all seriousness VPN's are a very useful tool.

Ugly as sin Bored Ape caricatures of the squad incoming!

As a notorious deviant, I can confirm the usefulness of VPNs, preferably at least nine daisychained with a few proxies too. It's like Sneakers round my place on an average night.

[Kevchenko]

42 minutes ago, LeodhasXD said:

 

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of Conor Sammon's Alloa hat trick.

In all seriousness VPN's are a very useful tool.

If it doesn’t include a pizza, we riot. 

[LeodhasXD]

19 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Ugly as sin Bored Ape caricatures of the squad incoming!

As a notorious deviant, I can confirm the usefulness of VPNs, preferably at least nine daisychained with a few proxies too. It's like Sneakers round my place on an average night.

I'd have gotten Wargames or Hackers references but I'm going to have to watch Sneakers now. The physical pen tests are the some of the most interesting stories a podcast I'm listening to just now. (Darknet Diaries)

[BFTD]

30 minutes ago, LeodhasXD said:

I'd have gotten Wargames or Hackers references but I'm going to have to watch Sneakers now. The physical pen tests are the some of the most interesting stories a podcast I'm listening to just now. (Darknet Diaries)

Oh, please do, it's tremendous!

Amazing cast on top comedy form.

[Rory]

I see the 3rd shirt is available on Pendle website now, is it coming without a sponsor on it? Didn't like it much in pictures but it does look better in person.

Any news on away shirt or will it just be the white one again?

[Kevchenko]

Bit of a game of two halves today, which changed with the introduction of Robbo at half time. 
 

First half we were so passive - I would say we were crying out for someone to throw themselves in to a challenge to shake us in to life, but truth is we were never close enough to any Pars players to even do that. The Dunfermline goal was a great header to be fair, but it’s tough not to question a keeper getting beat by a header from the edge of the box. Hogarth had a wee dodgy moment with a cross in the second half, and could have been a little tidier on a couple of shots, but his save just before halftime was brilliant and kept us in the game. 
 

Robbo coming on changed the game. He took control of the middle of the park straight away, after Hamilton had ran it in the first half for Dunfermline. Was surprised to see Hamilton go off as I thought he was Dunfermline’s best player and I think he is suspended for the league game next week which is good for us. 
 

Sammon took the goal really well and I felt we were the better team after that. The series of blocks by Hogarth and the 3 centre halves seemed to kick us in to life a bit as well. Was good to see them throwing themselves about like that in what was a dead rubber for us. 
 

King for Miller was a good call I thought, but Dunfermline did come back in to things a bit more after that change. 
 

Hard to tell from the side but looked like 5 really well struck penalties. Fair play to Sammon for stepping up after his midweek miss. 
 

Going forward, Robbo, Scougall and Taggs should be first names on the team sheet for me. Hogarth has done well so far and Stanger has really impressed in preseason. Wouldn’t say anything is clear cut up front yet, although Sammon’s goal return so far probably has him starting with one of Rodden or MacIver. 
 

If we use 3 in midfield I would have Robbo and Miller sitting with Scougall in front of them. If we play 4 it’s probably King that’s coming in but I wouldn’t mind using wee Kev for the right side or Cammy for the left. 
 

Seem to remember Andy getting sent off at the end of last season so if he’s suspended for next week it will be interesting how we line up at the back. Any idea what’s happening with Durnan and Howie? Believe Durnan is away for fire service training or something at some point but not sure if that’s why he’s missing or not. Remember a defender getting injured in one of the preseason games but can’t remember if that was Durnan or Howie?