Airdrie vs. Alloa/ Alloa vs. Airdrie - Championship Play Off Semi-Final

[The Chlamydia Kid]

Best performance of the season. Pity it was only one. McDonald, Hutton, Russel and mensing were top class. Although Scott Stewart was poor I thought but will let him off.

[Airdrie76]

As the Alloa fans above above have said that was a really poor performance from them tonight. They won't be as bad on Saturday I'm sure  

Thought Airdrie were really good tonight. Not too many silly mistakes, worked tirelessly and passed it around nicely. Hope for more of the same on a Saturday!

[pencils]

Think we suffered from playing dead rubber games for the past month tonight. Were 2nd to everything and were far too lightweight in central midfield. Kind of got to grips with the game once Robertson and Hetherington came on but still created little.

Graham and Waters were outstanding and Parry kept us in it first half.

[waysider]

11 minutes ago, 2lgm said:

Thoroughly enjoyed that tonight. Was a change going to a game with a bit of nerves fluttering. Not sure what the attendance was but away car park was busier than usual. Thought Mensing was immense and Lafferty and Andy Ryan were excellent too. Wish Brown would grow a pair tho..... he doesn't half shit out of challenges. Early goal on Saturday and they have to come at us and leave gaps. Looking forward to it.

Who's Lafferty?

[DestroyedByMadness]

Promising display.   (Get) Rohan (tae f**k) has done well lately.   McIntosh and (Get) Gorman (tae f**k) were superb at the back.   Conroy did well through the middle although his balls inside the RB for McDonald to run onto were a bit off.  Ryan was on top form.

I missed the first 5 minutes but it was total domination till HT.

Folk may say Stewart was poor bit he was up against a really classy leftback in Waters and he put in a shift at both ends.

McDonald was rampant down the left but his final ball is really poor.

Brown continues to frustrate.   Brilliant in flashes and utter shitebaggery at others.   Russell did well but tired badly in the last 20.     We needed Brown and Russell off for last half hour.   

Our commitment and organisation was far better tonight than at any time this season.  Wilson finally has earned his expenses. 

I've been mocked for saying those players are good enough,  they showed tonight they are.   

Roll on Saturday.

[BigMartyn86]

With Airdrie sounding so dominant and hammering us 1-0 in the first leg I guess we may as well concede the tie and not bother turning up on Saturday such is the pumping that they have dished out tonight.

Reminds me of the Forfar fans two years ago...

[whereismillar]

If this was airdrie's best performance of the season . this was one of Alloa's worst IMO, so We Can be thankfull it is only  1-0

saturday should see an alloa team looking to make amends , we cant play much worse so all to play for !! Well done airdrie good display but it isnt over till its over 

[whereismillar]

2 minutes ago, BigMartyn86 said:

With Airdrie sounding so dominant and hammering us 1-0 in the first leg I guess we may as well concede the tie and not bother turning up on Saturday such is the pumping that they have dished out tonight.

Reminds me of the Forfar fans two years ago...

We Didnt turn up tonight more like !

[Pesadilla]

1 minute ago, BigMartyn86 said:

With Airdrie sounding so dominant and hammering us 1-0 in the first leg I guess we may as well concede the tie and not bother turning up on Saturday such is the pumping that they have dished out tonight.

Reminds me of the Forfar fans two years ago...

Dry yer eyes mate. Nobody has written you off. We're just pleasantly surprised that we put in a performance.

[Pesadilla]

8 minutes ago, DestroyedByMadness said:

 

I've been mocked for saying those players are good enough,  they showed tonight they are.   

 

They're only good enough if they get there.

Remember they finished TWENTY-NINE points behind the only other F/T team in the league, and ten behind the P/T team we played tonight. 70 minutes of good football doesn't make them world beaters.

[Airdrie76]

2 minutes ago, whereismillar said:

We Didnt turn up tonight more like !

Both. Airdrie played well, Alloa didn't show up. Still all to play for on Saturday.

No one is saying otherwise despite BigMartyn's teary rant. 

[Redwedge77]

Airdrie dominated the game can't understand why they took decision to sit in for the last 10 minutes. We were lucky to only be 1 down. Alloa never completed in the middle of park. We failed to shut Airdrie players down quickly enough.

Could no cope with Airdrie playing three at back with wing backs pressing up to support Their midfield.

Homes should have been taken off at halftime as struggled to get any ball and missed too many passes. Flanny was also luck to finish the game should have been booked in first half for foul on Russell.

 

We can't play as badly on Saturday so hopefully of a win but think it might end up in the dread penalty shootout

 

[Hugh Jarss]

Excellent performance tonight. Probably one of our best of the season. We kept possession well and looked solid at the back and for 70 mins pressed high up the park. Mensing probably deserved his man of the match. 

Alloa offered next to nothing going forward but were hard to break down. I would have been happier had we scored another but this result gives us a great chance to get through. More of the same on Saturday please.

[rough diamond]

Thought Mensing was deserving of his MOTM with Ryan and Hutton who tackled everyone but the ref running him close, the 1st 60 odd mins was a joy to watch the way the ball was passed around the whole Alloa team, the only thing missing was a deserved 2nd or 3rd.

 

Good early stop by Ferguson and hats off to him for skinning the striker but FFS for the good of our collective blood pressure don't do it again.

 

Brown worked hard and deserved more from his drive and shot in the 2nd half but needs a pair of tackling balls.

 

Stewart struggled at times especially with the ball over the top, he was caught out too many times, but he ran all night, I'd like to have seen Loudon take over from him for the last 10 or 15mins as he was completely knackered.

 

One thing really frustrated me, for the last 20mins or so, we stopped spreading the ball across the midfield and kept playing it to Ryan's feet with his back to goal when he should have been running onto balls.

 

Final words for the Ref, 3 times in the first 20mins he let Alloa players off with a finger wagging when a yellow was a no brainer yet for me the booking for Alloa's #8 was wrong, the challenge was hard but fair.

 

 

[BendtnerBairn]

Went along tonight. Was very impressed with Airdrie - thought the left back had a good game. Andy Ryan's pace and directness caused Alloa problems and he fully deserved his goal. Alloa is 10 mins away from me so might do it all again on Saturday! May the best team win! 

[whereismillar]

7 minutes ago, rough diamond said:

Thought Mensing was deserving of his MOTM with Ryan and Hutton who tackled everyone but the ref running him close, the 1st 60 odd mins was a joy to watch the way the ball was passed around the whole Alloa team, the only thing missing was a deserved 2nd or 3rd.

Good early stop by Ferguson and hats off to him for skinning the striker but FFS for the good of our collective blood pressure don't do it again.

Brown worked hard and deserved more from his drive and shot in the 2nd half but needs a pair of tackling balls.

Stewart struggled at times especially with the ball over the top, he was caught out too many times, but he ran all night, I'd like to have seen Loudon take over from him for the last 10 or 15mins as he was completely knackered.

One thing really frustrated me, for the last 20mins or so, we stopped spreading the ball across the midfield and kept playing it to Ryan's feet with his back to goal when he should have been running into balls.

Final word for the Ref, 3 times in the first 20mins he let Alloa players of with a finger wagging when a yellow was a no brainer yet for me the booking for Alloa's #8 was wrong, the challenge was hard but fair.

the nearside linesman was on drugs  IMO

[Chapelhall chap]

38 minutes ago, waysider said:

Who's Lafferty?

I give the benefit of the doubt that he meant Kyle Hutton, ex rangers like the other Kyle. Thought we deserved all the praise in these posts but Alloa looked a bit defensive and pedestrian until around 15 minutes to go when our energy levels took a dip and Finnie had booked Hutton; indeed as usual he was nit picking over some fouls but let them away with a few. The guy who upended Macdonald  might well have got a red in the early part of season( Although I thought a yellow was just about right)

[Diamond Oracle]

What a team. What a manager. What a club. I love you Airdrie. Championship here we come.

That should have been a pumping tonight.

Right. Now I've had a chance to calm down a bit, I'll try and give a fair assessment of the game.

Tonight was literally the first time since Mark Wilson took over that we appeared to have any structure or game plan. Every player was disciplined with their positioning (with the exception of Stewart a couple of times), and showed excellent energy to press and hassle the Alloa players into giving the ball away. We kept the ball exceptionally well at times and there was a few excellent performances.

I feel we should have had a penalty in the first half when Ryan got in front of their centre half and he pushed him in the back.

It was disappointing not to go into half time a goal up as I felt our play deserved him and it Airdrie simply don't play that well two halfs in a row.

As it turned out we played some good football again for the first 25 mins of the first half, getting the all important goal from a good piece of play down the left hand side from Gorman and Conroy, with Conroy delivering an superb ball in to Ryan who did well to beat the defender in the air head it back across goal.

I thought Mackin caused our centre halfs (particularly the less physical McIntosh) bother all night and was surprised to see him come off first.

We struggled for the last 15 mins as Hutton, Conroy and Russell all began to tire having ran themselves into the ground. It's a real pity we have literally nothing to come off the bench.

We then managed to weather a mini storm from Alloa in the latter stages.

Overall I'm absolutely delighted with the win and performance. I'd have taken a draw before the game but couldn't help myself thinking we could have scored more tonight and potentially put the tie to bed.

There is no way Alloa will be as poor on Saturday, and equally it is unlikely we will be as good so it all hangs in the balance.

All we need to do is not lose on Saturday and we're into the final.

Can we dare to dream?

[emoji815]️

[Waspie]

I thought Airdrie were excellent tonight, well organised and really up for it. Probably be disappointed it's only 1-0. Hard to believe just how poor Alloa were, sluggish and disjointed and unrecognisable from some of the stuff we've seen this season. Parry, Graham and Waters the only guys who could be satisfied with their performances. We need to have a real go on Saturday because it would be galling to end what has been at times a great season in such timid fashion. 

[airdrieman]

Well, where did that come from? 

Best performance of the season. We were organised, solid at the back, actually seemed to have a game plan, cut out the individual errors (for the most part) and passed the ball around really nicely at times too. It's just a shame we only scored one goal to show for our dominance. 

Every player to a man did their job. Thought Ryan, Mensing, Gorman, MacDonald and Hutton were particularly good. Ferguson also looked a lot more confident and composed today so credit to him (although please don't try and take a striker on again please). Russell put in a great shift and a power of work. Think Airdrie must have been first to almost every ball. 

Now we just need to not f**k it up on Saturday...