Airdrieonians vs Alloa

[airdrieman]

8 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

We made it difficult for ourselves near the end but a good 3 points tonight. We were organised and defended well in the first-half. Alloa had most of the ball but did f**k all with it which we were perfectly content to let them do. Delighted for Gal that he got his goal. He’s been needing that for a while.  Thought our linkup play was great for both goals. Good ball in from Watson for the first and great linkup play between Gal, Easton and Frizzell for the second. And cracking finish from Frizzell. Another well deserved goal. I thought he was excellent tonight. Always looking to go forward, good use of the ball, lovely goal and he did well to dig in against a decent player in Senna. 
 

We clearly tired in the second-half which I guess is still the affects of Covid. Not much you can do in that sense during a game although I did think Murray could and should have used his subs a lot earlier. Agnew, G. McGill and Gallagher were all visibly toiling which was evident when Agnew didn’t (couldn’t?) win the second ball leading up to Sammon’s goal. Great we were able to see the game out though. We did struggle with Sammon’s physicality but McCabe and Fordyce were brilliantly organised once again. Salim put in a good shift when he came on which is encouraging. Still think we need another centre-half and wide player for reasons already discussed but overall pleased with our efforts and performance tonight. 
 

Same again on Saturday please

 

[Taylstheref]

BUMP! As expected, no consistency at all. Sounds like Mendy is doing his best but as I've always said is going to cost us throughout the season. Being a giant does not make you a good footballer. Fair judgement of things by Kev.

Saturday gonna be tough with a manager who knocked us back looking to prove a point. Hopefully BF gets it right.

[LeodhasXD]

 

[Dink]

I think that Waspie called this pretty much spot on. In the end it was a game that we could have got something from but Airdrie were probably worth the win.

This was a very different game to the Falkirk match on Saturday. Falkirk came at us, played with a high line, and left gaps in behind which suited us as we were able to pop balls over the top for our runners. Airdrie defended deep and didn't give us any space to exploit and we left it too late manage to change the way that we were playing. Given that we weren't getting any joy trying to pass or way through the Airdrie lines then bringing on Conor Sammon made sense as it let us have some hope of getting on the end of high balls. I'd also have thought about bringing on O'Donnell as his trickery might have brought us some success, and once you manage to beat a player it forces the opposition out of their shape.

I was surprised that we changed to a back 3 late on as it seemed like the earlier changes, in particular bringing on Sammon, we're beginning to bear fruit.

Given how solid Mendy and Durnan were against Falkirk it was probably right to start them again last night and apart from the making for Airdrie's first, and another occasion where they took it in turn to give the ball away, I didn't think that they did too badly.

Credit to Airdrie they played us pretty much perfectly defensively, and looked dangerous when they broke out. It was a game where the first goal was going to be very important. If we'd scored first Airdrie would have been forced to change their approach, instead we conceded first and Airdrie were able to double down. Also, their second was a very good strike.

[The Moonster]

12 hours ago, 2lgm said:

I know it may be forced due to availability of players, injury, covid etc but playing 4-1-4-1 at home is murder. Gal can’t trap cement up front and nothing really sticks to him so it’s hard going. 

Having watched your highlights, your second goal comes directly from Gallagher controlling the ball and holding it up before laying it inside to a team mate filling the space he created. Great hit from Frizzell but that goal doesn't happen without Gallaghers hold up play. 

[NorthernDiamond]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

Having watched your highlights, your second goal comes directly from Gallagher controlling the ball and holding it up before laying it inside to a team mate filling the space he created. Great hit from Frizzell but that goal doesn't happen without Gallaghers hold up play. 

Was at the game last night and this was the one time Gal managed to pull it off after getting it hoofed up to him all game. Credit for the time it came off, but would rather we looked for a different way of attacking

 

[2lgm]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

Having watched your highlights, your second goal comes directly from Gallagher controlling the ball and holding it up before laying it inside to a team mate filling the space he created. Great hit from Frizzell but that goal doesn't happen without Gallaghers hold up play. 

Yeah it works from time to time but as someone on here said a while back he’s got a 1st touch like a brick wall. I like Gal but think he’s a finisher 1st and foremost. I get frustrated watching us being so defensive at home with no width. Get the ball in from wide areas and he’ll give you a return but we are playing with big McGill wide right. Pleased with the result and a lot of aspects of our performance. 
 

expected a good bit more from you guys tho and thought we were in trouble when Sammon came on.

[Tory Boy]

32 minutes ago, 2lgm said:

Yeah it works from time to time but as someone on here said a while back he’s got a 1st touch like a brick wall. I like Gal but think he’s a finisher 1st and foremost. I get frustrated watching us being so defensive at home with no width. Get the ball in from wide areas and he’ll give you a return but we are playing with big McGill wide right. Pleased with the result and a lot of aspects of our performance. 
 

expected a good bit more from you guys tho and thought we were in trouble when Sammon came on.

I think (hope) it's just a case of just trying to grind out some results until we get some bodies back. McCabe has done brilliant at centre half but I think we really need him in the middle of the park. Hopefully also get Smith back soon who gives us a bit more width.

All things considered, to pick up 7 points out of a possible 9 since the Covid outbreak in our squad is a pretty decent return. Just got to hope we can keep it going against East Fife on Saturday.

[Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)]

I have to say a lot of credit goes to Airdrie as their shape and work ethic as a unit to contain us was hugely effective for long periods. Agree with Kieren in that many of our attacking players were too similar in approach. We really missed Trouten- just a bit of composure to both link and get in front of goal to cause problems. The game was made for him and I think he would have added an extra dimension to our attack, we really needed it.

Airdrie didn't appear to be threatening our defence all that much, so the opening goal was a disaster from an Alloa point of view. It was a really good cross in, but Mendy should have done a whole lot better initially. It gave Airdrie a lead to protect and they weren't going to play any other way- why would they?

The second Airdrie goal was a cracker in all fairness- good build up play and a brilliant finish.

Finally we introduced Sammon and gaps did start to open up. Sammons goal was a beauty, but our tactics although effective and could easily have got us a point (we definitely didn't deserve more than that) were a bit desperate at times.

Easy in hindsight but I thought the manager should have started Sammon. He's found goals pretty hard to come by in recent seasons, so after his goal against Falkirk I thought we should have built on that momentum and put him up top. By all means retain Henderson in the same position after his excellent debut. Sammon surely starts against Montrose on Saturday.

Although Andy Graham certainly played his part, I thought it was a strange substitution to hook Scougall, who was actually starting to make real inroads and impose himself on the game. Maybe he picked up a knock and if so I stand corrected.

I do like Mendy and he has the makings of a bit of a cult hero. His distribution was hilariously bad at times, but opening goal aside he is good at staying close to players and winning most aerial balls.

Couldn't begrudge Airdrie the 3 points, though as I said we could have snatched a point from that. That's 0 points from 9 on the road so far, and we need to rectify that quickly- particularly as our next 2 are also away fixtures.

 

[laughing gravie]

It's true, one swallow doesn't make a summer after all.

You find a formation that doesn't allow the opposition (Falkirk) play and what do we do? Aye, change it.

What a fanny

[Chapelhall chap]

Thanks for the early posting of the highlights. Always interesting to hear the other sides commentary but it was a very fair approach. Having been in the far away end it was great to see the move which led to Frizzell's cracking shot. As was correctly said about the later Sammon goal: "what a finish"

I thought Alloa looked a lot better when Robertson went into midfield as our guys began to tire, and Sammon should have started for Alloa. All these games are going to be close.

[Oweny]

Robbo was terrific when he went into the middle of the park . A terrific player for Alloa . 

I enjoyed the game albeit obviously not the result. Two pretty well matched teams . Great second goal from Airdrie but we pretty much dominated after this and in truth a draw would have been a fair outcome. 

Some great coaches and players in the Alloa support as usual........some of the stick dished out to our management team was cringeworthy once again . Give the guy a chance FFS . I actually thought we looked pretty well balanced and played some decent football. 

[GroundHoppingBear]

Alloa controlled the ball for much of the second half but any time they lost it Easton and Frizzell looked very dangerous on the transition. Do Airdrie always play with they two as their central midfielders? Think better sides would hurt them as they aren't very physical for the middle of the park in a League One game but as I said dangerous when they win it back and break.

McCabe done well at centre half until Sammon came on and it was a mismatch.

[GroundHoppingBear]

11 hours ago, Oweny said:

Robbo was terrific when he went into the middle of the park . A terrific player for Alloa . 

I enjoyed the game albeit obviously not the result. Two pretty well matched teams . Great second goal from Airdrie but we pretty much dominated after this and in truth a draw would have been a fair outcome. 

Some great coaches and players in the Alloa support as usual........some of the stick dished out to our management team was cringeworthy once again . Give the guy a chance FFS . I actually thought we looked pretty well balanced and played some decent football. 

I was surprised by the level of actual football played by both teams at times. Alloa could probably have created better chances with that possession but for being away from home I thought it was a decent performance going by the limited knowledge of both sides.

[Taylstheref]

15 hours ago, Oweny said:

Robbo was terrific when he went into the middle of the park . A terrific player for Alloa . 

I enjoyed the game albeit obviously not the result. Two pretty well matched teams . Great second goal from Airdrie but we pretty much dominated after this and in truth a draw would have been a fair outcome. 

Some great coaches and players in the Alloa support as usual........some of the stick dished out to our management team was cringeworthy once again . Give the guy a chance FFS . I actually thought we looked pretty well balanced and played some decent football. 

Robertson is far better in the middle of the park. On Saturday v Falkirk he did fine but offered nothing going forward and cut inside to his right foot all the time. 

What was Church like when he came on? Where is Armstrong and Williamson? Seen both sitting in the stand on Saturday. Williamson rumoured to have been recalled, what for? We appear to have 3 LB's but the manager isn't using them. Mental or he doesn't fancy them!

[airdrieman]

7 hours ago, GroundHoppingBear said:

Alloa controlled the ball for much of the second half but any time they lost it Easton and Frizzell looked very dangerous on the transition. Do Airdrie always play with they two as their central midfielders? Think better sides would hurt them as they aren't very physical for the middle of the park in a League One game but as I said dangerous when they win it back and break.

McCabe done well at centre half until Sammon came on and it was a mismatch.

McCabe usually plays in the middle of the park too but he's been used at centre-half the last few weeks because our two other options there are out with long(ish)-term injuries. He's actually been excellent in there but he's much better and more influential in the midfield and we need him back there soon IMO.