The Alloa Athletic Thread

[Waspie]

I thought Jamieson showed potential last season. It was a strange time for a new player coming in after months not playing and he also had an injury to contend with. After a bit of a ropey start he was doing pretty well with an excellent performance against Hearts in particular. Cleared everything that came near him, generally in the right place and timed his tackles well. Not a natural with the ball at his feet maybe but not that bad either, and perhaps looked worse because of our style of playing everything out of the back. I thought he was rather unlucky to never get back in after losing his place. I'd have been happy enough to see him get another shot at Alloa but with the club retaining and even signing players before appointing a manager who would naturally have his own ideas this kind of thing was probably inevitable. We clearly have too many CBs now. Think back in League 2 Jamieson is capable of doing well. 

A loan move might benefit Williamson too. I did wonder that between the goodwill to youth players, particularly local ones, and then generally steady showings from him and a wonder goal were we perhaps putting him on a pedestal a wee bit. If he can go and play a load of competitive games for Broomhill then hopefully he'll return the better for it. Still very young. Evans whenever I've seen him looked pretty raw (understandably) and again regular games at a decent level would definitely help. 

[Wee wasp]

Gonna be a long season for alloa I think ,  it doesn't seem to be a happy place right now. The players signed are not going to get them back up to the championship. Crying out for a striker as sammon not good enough and armours  goals return is really poor for a striker 

[printer]

Pretty much agree with Waspie re Jamieson. I would have been happy to see him in the team this year. I felt he suffered a bit from the defence generally being dodgy last season , with Andy G and Parry not hitting their usual heights. It remains to be seen whether Howie, Durnan and Armstrong are better.

I think the young lads going out on loan is best for everyone. Also agree with Waspie's comments re Williamson. He did well enough for us in the Championship, but we have lost a really solid left back in Dick and that's the standard of replacement we should be getting in. 

Four players moving out would suggest another four at least coming in. I am, as others, of the opinion that we lack a genuine goalscoring striker (e.g an Innes Cameron) although, clearly, it's far too early to judge the new strikers.

 

[Taylstheref]

27 minutes ago, printer said:

Pretty much agree with Waspie re Jamieson. I would have been happy to see him in the team this year. I felt he suffered a bit from the defence generally being dodgy last season , with Andy G and Parry not hitting their usual heights. It remains to be seen whether Howie, Durnan and Armstrong are better.

I think the young lads going out on loan is best for everyone. Also agree with Waspie's comments re Williamson. He did well enough for us in the Championship, but we have lost a really solid left back in Dick and that's the standard of replacement we should be getting in. 

Four players moving out would suggest another four at least coming in. I am, as others, of the opinion that we lack a genuine goalscoring striker (e.g an Innes Cameron) although, clearly, it's far too early to judge the new strikers.

 

Thankfully you said should be getting in. From what I've seen the 2 LB's are no where near Dick standard. Indeed Williamson played 8 or 9 games in the Championship, I don't believe either of them have been near that level. 

From Championship to LL is not a well thought out scenario. Great that he will hopefully get game time but from the article in the addy he only stayed as he believed he could nail a place in the team and gain experience in division 1. In fact I recall Kieran making a comment about other options, bet he regrets not taking them up and being pumped to the LL.

I think it's good for Evans as he's had no games and needs that time to develop. 

Be interested to see what happens with those 2 and Jamiesons move. O Donnell next to go?

I think his time could well be over and that's a real shame as has been rightly said, not had any real opportunity.  

[footyfan99]

14 minutes ago, McCulloch No.5 said:

Thankfully you said should be getting in. From what I've seen the 2 LB's are no where near Dick standard. Indeed Williamson played 8 or 9 games in the Championship, I don't believe either of them have been near that level. 

From Championship to LL is not a well thought out scenario. Great that he will hopefully get game time but from the article in the addy he only stayed as he believed he could nail a place in the team and gain experience in division 1. In fact I recall Kieran making a comment about other options, bet he regrets not taking them up and being pumped to the LL.

I think it's good for Evans as he's had no games and needs that time to develop. 

Be interested to see what happens with those 2 and Jamiesons move. O Donnell next to go?

I think his time could well be over and that's a real shame as has been rightly said, not had any real opportunity.  

I agree with this in relation to Williamson. However, he’s still only 18 and playing every week for BSC in a competitive league will do no harm. Who knows though, come the next couple of months if Church continues how he’s playing, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in the team. 

[printer]

Remember when Adam Martin was the best thing since sliced bread because he was a young home player who had a couple of OK cameos from the bench and the team was struggling a bit?

[Taylstheref]

47 minutes ago, printer said:

Remember when Adam Martin was the best thing since sliced bread because he was a young home player who had a couple of OK cameos from the bench and the team was struggling a bit?

Adam Martin wasn't 17 playing in the championship in a pish poor defence. Attacking and defending are totally different. Did Adam go out on loan, can't remember? 

[Jan Vojáček]

55 minutes ago, McCulloch No.5 said:

Adam Martin wasn't 17 playing in the championship in a pish poor defence. Attacking and defending are totally different. Did Adam go out on loan, can't remember? 

Aye. He went to Clyde on loan.

[Velvet Donkey]

5 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

Nicky Jamieson: talk to me.

Haven't seen him play since he left QP, but surprised he seems not to have gelled at Alloa. Great positioning, reliable, consistent and I would think a great signing for Stenny.

[macclyde+]

9 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Aye. He went to Clyde on loan.

Didn't get much game time at Clyde, then ended up at QP, where he got a pretty bad injury.

Not sure where he ended up, but would imagine away from QP now given the cash they are splashing about.

[fruitbowl]

In the world of one year contracts I can see that the incumbent manager is looking as far as possible for players with a bit of experience and age wise ideally 20 plus. Within this structure I question if it is worthwhile, other than to wave the community club flag, running a youth/reserve team as I can’t recall much impact from anyone from that source in the 9 years I have been supporting the club.

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

I think Jamieson is a good player, came into the team in last few months of the year and looked pretty decent at the back. Waspie mentions the win over Hearts where he was terrific. His form tailed off a bit (but he wasn't the only one in our defence) and was pretty much dropped after the 4 1 drubbing down at Ayr.

Probably a bit harsh on him, but I think he has potential and would have seen him in contention this season. Manager clearly has his own ideas about the backline and I think he's bringing a defender in.

Obviously a bit disappointing when I thought we might play Williamson and develop him, but clearly as stated we are looking for a like for like replacement for Liam Dick which will be difficult. We haven't seen nearly enough of any new players to make any real judgment on that.

[Taylstheref]

22 minutes ago, fruitbowl said:

In the world of one year contracts I can see that the incumbent manager is looking as far as possible for players with a bit of experience and age wise ideally 20 plus. Within this structure I question if it is worthwhile, other than to wave the community club flag, running a youth/reserve team as I can’t recall much impact from anyone from that source in the 9 years I have been supporting the club.

Would totally agree with you. The last manager to steadily promote youth at the club was Hugh McCann about 30 years ago. It seems nowadays there are very few clubs outwith the top tier with youth set ups, look at Falkirk, non stop flow of talent and they binned it!!

We've had very few over last 30 years and it looks like this manager will continue that trend. Must take hat off to Grant for putting his trust in the 2 he did play.

[printer]

4 hours ago, McCulloch No.5 said:

Must take hat off to Grant for putting his trust in the 2 he did play.

Yeah, Peter Grant deserves credit for giving Williamson and O'Donnell the game time he did. I think both have a good chance of having good playing careers, at whatever level fits them.

On a related matter I see Max Wright got Albion Rovers goal against Falkirk on Tuesday. He's done well at League 2 level since he was with Alloa. Always good to see IMO.

[laughing gravie]

5 hours ago, McCulloch No.5 said:

We've had very few over last 30 years and it looks like this manager will continue that trend.

If you look at BF's career, he was in set ups where no time was permitted for youth development, it was always a case of buying what they could (n't really) afford incase their rivals got one over on them.

I'm pretty sure this is the set up he came from at Kelty.

For me,the jury's out, and it may take some time to pass verdict.

It may even go to retrial

[Kevchenko]

What a difference a few days makes, a fantastic result that the performance merited. Think King was probably the only player who didn’t make a real impact on the game. 
 

I take back what I said about Howie after Tuesday night, having a proper look at him today he was very solid and worked well with Andy, who I thought was excellent today. Bizarrely, was pleased with how Howie took his booking, knew he’d been caught out but no messing about, grab the boy, take your yellow and regroup. 
 

Liked how we were set up today, particularly when we didn’t have the ball, with one of the wingers dropping pretty much all the way back and pushing the full back in one - I thought Church looked more comfortable being less exposed not being the outside man. Although Boyd didn’t get much of a sniff going forward, I thought the work he did defensively getting back to help Taggs was fantastic. 
 

Hopefully Sammon sharpens up in front of goal over the next couple of weeks but it’s pleasing to see him getting in to some really good positions to have those opportunities. With how we were set up I was surprised with how many chances we were actually able to create and would say we never really looked under the cosh at any point today. Can see us being set up that way away from home in the league this year. 
 

Finally, there will be a riot if O’Donnell gets sent out on loan - the kid has an extremely bright future and was fantastic today. His composure on the ball for someone so young is unreal. 

[printer]

Forgot just how great coming away from the Indodrill after a good win felt. Draw would have been fairer IMO, but Taggs solo effort turned the game. Couldn't see what happened for the pen, but ref gave it immediately. 

 After the chat about young players, seeing O'Donnell do so well was well timed. Still not sure what his best position is.

I thought we played OK up to the frantic finish, especially first half when we matched Livi. I thought all the new players did OK, so it will be a case of how the team gels and develops. Sammon is an interesting one - looks a real handful a lot of the time, then like he'll fall over the ball in front of goal.

Anyway, great to be back at live football.

[Kevchenko]

14 minutes ago, printer said:

 Couldn't see what happened for the pen, but ref gave it immediately. 

Obileye clipped O'Donnell's heels as the ball came over - totally accidental but had to be given. You could actually hear the contact behind the goals.

[Taylstheref]

Yeah really pleasing that we matched in the main a SPL team that finished in the top 6. I still fear for O Donnell however he proved a point that it doesn't matter about age. Hopefully the manager will think long and hard about playing him, he deserves a shot with a solid performance like that.

King appears to be living off a reputation but has not offered much in the first 2 games.

We looked fit, still think we need another option up top as goals have been a problem for a few seasons now. Cracks the group wide open.

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

1 hour ago, Kevchenko said:

Obileye clipped O'Donnell's heels as the ball came over - totally accidental but had to be given. You could actually hear the contact behind the goals.

Fair play looked a bit of a ropey award but I was in the main stand, you'd have had a better view. We'll take it.

Ironically I think we can do a lot better than we did today. I think Robbo and Scougall can impose and ultimately influence more than they did today, albeit against Prem opposition.

Still, we were comfortable for the majority of the game. Livi were on top for 10 mins after the opening goal but apart from that I thought we were assured.

ODonnell was probably our best performer. Great to see him take his opportunity after being a late replacement for Cawley. Howie also excellent alongside Andy and relatively error free. Noted Andy giving Church real encouragement every time he ventured forward,  so I think this will develop as Church gets some games under his belt.

Taggarts equaliser was excellent. Admittedly suspect defending but a great run and a beautiful pass from Andy Graham to get him on his way.

It did have a pre season feel about it today. I think it illustrated we need to just allow this group time to settle and not over react. We weren't absolutely useless after Tuesday night and nor are we world beaters after today.

The result blows the group wide open and probably allows us, Cowden and Raith the opportunity to perhaps qualify from the group.

Was good to see McDowall get a run out in goal and I thought he did fine. Had no chance for the Livi goal. 

Onwards to Brechin on Tuesday where we hopefully build on this and put in a good performance.