Queens v Alloa

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

That was a really enjoyable day and game yesterday. The two early goals were a good reflection of the opening 20 minutes. We were well on top in this period. The goals definitely from a Queens point of view defended poorly. Particularly the first- where they laid it on a plate for a bang in form O'Hara . There wasnt many uncomfortable moments in that opening half. But the injury to MacDonald changed the context of the game- despite him not really having a save to make from that point. We knew Queens would come roaring out second half and it wasnt the best situation having a young largely untried keeper between the sticks. 

Unfortunately the fears were realised, first with Hamilton pulling a goal back. Then Dobbie, who had been largely quiet and isolated, produced a moment of real quality with a stunning equaliser. 

Understandably that shook us up but after 5 minutes or so we settled down. Peter Grant had switched to a back 3 bringing on Ben Stirling and pushing Robertson into midfield and it worked effectively. Stirling had a hand in O'Haras goal- the one true chance we created, but at the moment thats all O'Hara needs.

We rode our luck a bit towards the end but Andrew Wilson pulled off two brilliant saves to win the points.

A great win and we have replicated our form at this time last season to haul ourselves off the bottom. Fingers crossed MacDonalds hip injury isnt too serious as weve had terrible luck with injuries to real key men in the team. But dropping a cross aside, Wilson stood tall and played a big role in that win.

Robert Thomson has had a couple of excellent outings in the past 2 games- finally getting a run and putting some consistency together. He tired in the second half- he had a big job to do in terms of running into pockets of space- but good to see him playing his part. 

[Monkey Tennis]

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

That was a really enjoyable day and game yesterday. The two early goals were a good reflection of the opening 20 minutes. We were well on top in this period. The goals definitely from a Queens point of view defended poorly. Particularly the first- where they laid it on a plate for a bang in form O'Hara . There wasnt many uncomfortable moments in that opening half. But the injury to MacDonald changed the context of the game- despite him not really having a save to make from that point. We knew Queens would come roaring out second half and it wasnt the best situation having a young largely untried keeper between the sticks. 

Unfortunately the fears were realised, first with Hamilton pulling a goal back. Then Dobbie, who had been largely quiet and isolated, produced a moment of real quality with a stunning equaliser. 

Understandably that shook us up but after 5 minutes or so we settled down. Peter Grant had switched to a back 3 bringing on Ben Stirling and pushing Robertson into midfield and it worked effectively. Stirling had a hand in O'Haras goal- the one true chance we created, but at the moment thats all O'Hara needs.

We rode our luck a bit towards the end but Andrew Wilson pulled off two brilliant saves to win the points.

A great win and we have replicated our form at this time last season to haul ourselves off the bottom. Fingers crossed MacDonalds hip injury isnt too serious as weve had terrible luck with injuries to real key men in the team. But dropping a cross aside, Wilson stood tall and played a big role in that win.

Robert Thomson has had a couple of excellent outings in the past 2 games- finally getting a run and putting some consistency together. He tired in the second half- he had a big job to do in terms of running into pockets of space- but good to see him playing his part. 

I didn't particularly think Alloa were on top in the early part of the game at all, but it's hard to argue with two goals.

I think we needed to score a 3rd very soon after Dobbie's goal.  When the game settled down again, we looked as likely to lose it as to win it.  

Edited January 26, 2020 by Monkey Tennis

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

6 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I didn't particularly think Alloa were on top in the early part of the game at all, but it's hard to argue with two goals.

I think we needed to score a 3rd very soon after Dobbie's goal.  When the game settled down again, we looked as likely to lose it as to win it.  

Would admit that we didnt pepper the Queens goal with lots of chances in that opening spell. The two goals were probably the only real openings. But in terms of stifling Queens and controlling the midfield battle- felt we were on top.

[Guest Flash]

1 hour ago, palmy_cammy said:

Really frustrating that Johnston can't see this given it is in the "blatantly fucking obvious" category.

He's signed some utter shite but I have a degree of sympathy towards him for this as I'm sure it can't be easy building a squad on our budget.  Coupled with his inability to get the best out of the squad he's assembled though and it doesn't reflect well on him.

He should have been emptied after the Queens Park debacle.

Agreed. There will be many terrible performances that have been wiped from my memory, but that was the most inept and gutless display I can remember for a long time, especially in the second half. And although we got back into the game yesterday, I don’t think that would have happened if their keeper had stayed on.  

Imo, this squad has a distinct lack of character. Yesterday was the 9th time we’ve gone behind in a league game and we have picked up one point out of 27. Including the QP farce, that is also 9 games in a row that we’ve lost after conceding first. I appreciate that it is difficult to come back when you’re not very good to start with. But, imo, this lot don’t make up for lack of ability with a bit of fight.

[mikedafc]

Alloa's winning goal looks clearly offside

[fruitbowl]

Alloa's winning goal looks clearly offside

Marginal. You should be more concerned about your static midfield and defence.

[19QOS19]

That mistake by Brownlie is somehow worse than I remember. No idea what he was trying to do there. Devine hasn't a clue where his man is for the second and Mercer looks horribly caught out as well but he was injured so you can't be hard on him. The Alloa player does make a mess of his header for our first and Hamilton does really well to get that over the line. Peach from Dobbie. How the linesman hasn't flagged for that third is incredible. He's clearly offside yet only one of our players raise their arm in protest. Probably sums up their effort yesterday tbh.

[19QOS19]

Marginal. You should be more concerned about your static midfield and defence.

His defence had a clean sheet and his midfield looked fine. I'm sure he isn't concerned in the slightest this weekend.

[Monkey Tennis]

3 minutes ago, fruitbowl said:

Marginal. You should be more concerned about your static midfield and defence.

I thought Dunfermline looked fairly comfortable the other night.

[Fae_the_'briggs]

9 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

12 minutes ago, fruitbowl said:

Marginal. You should be more concerned about your static midfield and defence.

His defence had a clean sheet and his midfield looked fine. I'm sure he isn't concerned in the slightest this weekend.

Hopefully but unlikely he'll be more concerned next week. 

8 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I thought Dunfermline looked fairly comfortable the other night.

And they probably will next Saturday as well. 

[LeodhasXD]

 

[1320Lichtie]

Alloa second goal is tremendous. Good strike from Dobbie too.

Stirling done very well setting up that winnner.

[Guest Flash]

1 hour ago, 19QOS19 said:

That mistake by Brownlie is somehow worse than I remember. No idea what he was trying to do there. Devine hasn't a clue where his man is for the second and Mercer looks horribly caught out as well but he was injured so you can't be hard on him. The Alloa player does make a mess of his header for our first and Hamilton does really well to get that over the line. Peach from Dobbie. How the linesman hasn't flagged for that third is incredible. He's clearly offside yet only one of our players raise their arm in protest. Probably sums up their effort yesterday tbh.

Are the CBs not supposed to be level with the ball when it goes wide? He was about 6 yards too far back. As for Brownlie, WTAF.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

Yes, I genuinely don't know what Brownlie was even attempting.  Devine seems to not sense any danger ahead of the second goal, something he'll need to learn to do.

The winner is offside, which perhaps explains why O'Hara has such space.  As noted though, there's not much protest, which is weird.  

In fairness, a better save at the end than I'd appreciated yesterday.  

[SUPERSOUTH]

1 minute ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Yes, I genuinely don't know what Brownlie was even attempting.  Devine seems to not sense any danger ahead of the second goal, something he'll need to learn to do.

The winner is offside, which perhaps explains why O'Hara has such space.  As noted though, there's not much protest, which is weird.  

In fairness, a better save at the end than I'd appreciated yesterday.  

Only player to protest was Dobbie... 

[ALOREBURNE]

9.36 some chance for Hamilton to nick a point

[Skyline Drifter]

Where do you start?

We started brightly enough and I thought were well on top up to Alloa's opener which was against the run of play. And it's a complete disaster of a goal. Osman should just deal with it and not let it bounce and get caught wrong side. Devine has no need to be up there at all. Leave it to Osman but he is unfortunate with the inadvertent pass on to Thomson. And Brownlie? I don't know what he's even trying to do. Presumably he thinks O'Hara is running in behind him and he has to play it and, with nobody else near, doesn't have to make it a no nonsense clearance to touch. I'm not convinced O'Hara reaches it if he just leaves it to be honest but O'Hara's run is clever and Brownlie's lost him so ends up just teeing him up.

Second goal is a nice goal but it probably doesn't happen if Mercer isn't struggling to run. Devine completely loses Thomson. He's not even aware he is there until it's too late. I guess he thinks Holt has him but Holt was never back far enough to pick him up. I think that ones down to two players who met on Thursday not being sure of each other yet.

On our first I hadn't realised at the time what a backside Robertson made of the header. Dobbie's ball in is good and credit to Hamilton who failed to force it over the line not once, but twice, but still had the awareness to twist and knock it into the roof of the net.

Our second is just vintage Dobbie. We haven't seen nearly enough of that this season. Good awareness from Holt to lay it back instead of shooting though.

I'm not sure I see much wrong with the winner. It's tight but I think he's just onside. In the absence of VAR and mm perfect decisions, he's certainly close enough to get the benefit of the doubt as they say. O'Hara is well beyond our defenders but I think he's probably level with Stirling when he crosses it.  Dobbie should have taken one for the team and pulled Stirling down outside the box. He'd have been booked but it would have been worth it. Not his style though. Brownlie inexplicably steps up with his hand in the air when he's not even our deepest defender and Lyon, not a natural full back, doesn't tuck in early enough and sees O'Hara run off the back of Brownlie far too late to get to him. It's a horror show all round for us. I'd go so far to say it's a worse goal of errors than the 1st. I'll exempt Devine who has Buchanan fairly tightly marked and I guess Holt probably does need to come out with Cawley when he goes to take the short pass outside the box. I don't think there's anything Ross Stewart can do on any of their goals really.

The late Wilson save from Dobbie is a bit of a "tv save". I think it looks more spectacular than it needs to be. It's a decent save from Hamilton when he's clean through and it's not as poor an effort as I though it was at the time to be fair. The header just before isn't as good a chance as it looked from the other side either but he should probably have done more with it.

We were poor. If you defend like that you'll lose at this level. At 2-2 I thought we'd go on and win it but I can't ultimately complain about the result. Well done again Alloa.

[Monkey Tennis]

15 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Where do you start?

We started brightly enough and I thought were well on top up to Alloa's opener which was against the run of play. And it's a complete disaster of a goal. Osman should just deal with it and not let it bounce and get caught wrong side. Devine has no need to be up there at all. Leave it to Osman but he is unfortunate with the inadvertent pass on to Thomson. And Brownlie? I don't know what he's even trying to do. Presumably he thinks O'Hara is running in behind him and he has to play it and, with nobody else near, doesn't have to make it a no nonsense clearance to touch. I'm not convinced O'Hara reaches it if he just leaves it to be honest but O'Hara's run is clever and Brownlie's lost him so ends up just teeing him up.

Second goal is a nice goal but it probably doesn't happen if Mercer isn't struggling to run. Devine completely loses Thomson. He's not even aware he is there until it's too late. I guess he thinks Holt has him but Holt was never back far enough to pick him up. I think that ones down to two players who met on Thursday not being sure of each other yet.

On our first I hadn't realised at the time what a backside Robertson made of the header. Dobbie's ball in is good and credit to Hamilton who failed to force it over the line not once, but twice, but still had the awareness to twist and knock it into the roof of the net.

Our second is just vintage Dobbie. We haven't seen nearly enough of that this season. Good awareness from Holt to lay it back instead of shooting though.

I'm not sure I see much wrong with the winner. It's tight but I think he's just onside. In the absence of VAR and mm perfect decisions, he's certainly close enough to get the benefit of the doubt as they say. O'Hara is well beyond our defenders but I think he's probably level with Stirling when he crosses it.  Dobbie should have taken one for the team and pulled Stirling down outside the box. He'd have been booked but it would have been worth it. Not his style though. Brownlie inexplicably steps up with his hand in the air when he's not even our deepest defender and Lyon, not a natural full back, doesn't tuck in early enough and sees O'Hara run off the back of Brownlie far too late to get to him. It's a horror show all round for us. I'd go so far to say it's a worse goal of errors than the 1st. I'll exempt Devine who has Buchanan fairly tightly marked and I guess Holt probably does need to come out with Cawley when he goes to take the short pass outside the box. I don't think there's anything Ross Stewart can do on any of their goals really.

The late Wilson save from Dobbie is a bit of a "tv save". I think it looks more spectacular than it needs to be. It's a decent save from Hamilton when he's clean through and it's not as poor an effort as I though it was at the time to be fair. The header just before isn't as good a chance as it looked from the other side either but he should probably have done more with it.

We were poor. If you defend like that you'll lose at this level. At 2-2 I thought we'd go on and win it but I can't ultimately complain about the result. Well done again Alloa.

Yes, for the winner, there's no doubt that O'Hara is way ahead of the defenders and therefore looks miles off.

The debate is about whether he was ahead of his wide team mate though.  I still think the answer is yes, but it's a lot tighter.

[SueSue]

15 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Where do you start?

We started brightly enough and I thought were well on top up to Alloa's opener which was against the run of play. And it's a complete disaster of a goal. Osman should just deal with it and not let it bounce and get caught wrong side. Devine has no need to be up there at all. Leave it to Osman but he is unfortunate with the inadvertent pass on to Thomson. And Brownlie? I don't know what he's even trying to do. Presumably he thinks O'Hara is running in behind him and he has to play it and, with nobody else near, doesn't have to make it a no nonsense clearance to touch. I'm not convinced O'Hara reaches it if he just leaves it to be honest but O'Hara's run is clever and Brownlie's lost him so ends up just teeing him up.

Second goal is a nice goal but it probably doesn't happen if Mercer isn't struggling to run. Devine completely loses Thomson. He's not even aware he is there until it's too late. I guess he thinks Holt has him but Holt was never back far enough to pick him up. I think that ones down to two players who met on Thursday not being sure of each other yet.

On our first I hadn't realised at the time what a backside Robertson made of the header. Dobbie's ball in is good and credit to Hamilton who failed to force it over the line not once, but twice, but still had the awareness to twist and knock it into the roof of the net.

Our second is just vintage Dobbie. We haven't seen nearly enough of that this season. Good awareness from Holt to lay it back instead of shooting though.

I'm not sure I see much wrong with the winner. It's tight but I think he's just onside. In the absence of VAR and mm perfect decisions, he's certainly close enough to get the benefit of the doubt as they say. O'Hara is well beyond our defenders but I think he's probably level with Stirling when he crosses it.  Dobbie should have taken one for the team and pulled Stirling down outside the box. He'd have been booked but it would have been worth it. Not his style though. Brownlie inexplicably steps up with his hand in the air when he's not even our deepest defender and Lyon, not a natural full back, doesn't tuck in early enough and sees O'Hara run off the back of Brownlie far too late to get to him. It's a horror show all round for us. I'd go so far to say it's a worse goal of errors than the 1st. I'll exempt Devine who has Buchanan fairly tightly marked and I guess Holt probably does need to come out with Cawley when he goes to take the short pass outside the box. I don't think there's anything Ross Stewart can do on any of their goals really.

The late Wilson save from Dobbie is a bit of a "tv save". I think it looks more spectacular than it needs to be. It's a decent save from Hamilton when he's clean through and it's not as poor an effort as I though it was at the time to be fair. The header just before isn't as good a chance as it looked from the other side either but he should probably have done more with it.

We were poor. If you defend like that you'll lose at this level. At 2-2 I thought we'd go on and win it but I can't ultimately complain about the result. Well done again Alloa.

I think you are being extremely kind with your Wording in your review.

The defending from all concerned for all three goals was stinking.

[19QOS19]

It's always difficult when you aren't in line but I'd say O'Hara is off.