Post by d7 on Aug 27, 2016 18:34:21 GMT
So, whoever said football was a game of two halves got this one spot on. I do think there is a reason for that right enough - more on that later.
A slightly unusual line up today, brought about by injuries to Davidson and Wallace no doubt. First thing I noticed was both Fish and Mick sporting Jamie Vardy-esque wrist strappings. Unfortunately that's where any comparison with Vardy ended, except right enough that I'm sure both Vardy and Fish are no strangers to a WKD or two for breakfast every once in a while. Mick on the other hand looks like he's more of a Ready Brek sort of guy and I know he's tee total.
Rovers kicked off and as we do, started brightly. We seemed to have two up front for most of the game today but I couldn't really distinguish much of a formation beyond that and the usual 4 at the back. The midfield was a bit of a mish mash for me. We certainly competed with Alloa for the entire first half and probably shaded it if I am honest. But we were at sixes and sevens a bit whilst Alloa had an assured calm about their possession and distribution - switching play at will.
The game was only 2 minutes old when Fish got booked (of course he did) for attempting to strangle an Alloa player. A wee bit harsh perhaps but it probably allowed the ref to put down a marker that he wasn't to be messed with. In fairness I thought the ref was okay today.
We had a few decent chances in the first half. Willis hit a great shot wide after about 15 minutes. Then we created a great chance down the left hand side but the final effort was blazed over the bar. Alloa's reply to that was a break forward where a shot from all of 30 yards cannoned back off the post. Reidy then beat a couple of players as he broke forward before passing to McBride who wasted the chance after a good few step overs too.
The best chance of the half probably fell to Stewart following some good work by Willis but he snatched at the shot when he had time to compose himself and another shot ended up in row z. Another good move started by Fish sliding in and winning the ball saw it break to Stewart but he couldn't get a decent shot away. Stewart also saw a nice control and turn cynically end with a scything tackle just outside the box but we couldn't convert the free kick - Boyd hitting the ball straight at the wall. We were causing Alloa all sorts of problems down their left hand side but to be fair they had their chances too. A free kick was fired straight at Ross and a header finished just over.
And then just as the first half was drawing to an end, the wee dug made it's first appearance of the year. Looked to me like it might have been the same dug as last season but it was quickly removed. So honours even at the end of the first half and as I said, I think we just shaded it.
Into the second half and what a turnaround. And not in a good way. We should have gone 1-0 up in truth. Boyd, who had a great game I thought, robbed the Alloa defender and sprinted forward with just really the keeper to beat and another defender closing him down a bit. He delayed too long before passing to Stewart which resulted in Stewart getting to the ball just about the same time as Parry and he blocked the shot. That was a real wasted effort. Boyd obviously fancied the shot himself but by the time he realised Stewart was in a better position it was too late.
From there on in it was all Alloa. Their first goal came from some decent play where we didn't really clear our lines. The ball broke to Alloa on the edge of the box and the shot was deflected past Ross for 1-0. The ball didn't seem that far away from Ross and I know it was deflected but could he have saved it or at least made a better attempt - maybe?
Goal number 2 was also a bit calamitous. A kind of nothing free kick conceded and the Alloa number 3 stepped up and hit a cracker of a shot. It came back off the post, hit keeper Ross and ended up in the back of the net for 2-0. It wasn't long before it was 3-0. This time a sweeping move down our right hand side and a good cross was finished with a decent header. 4-0 again came down our right hand side where a low cross was turned into his own net by captain Mick.
And that was that. We had a couple of chances towards the end. A corner was headed onto the bar by Mick and then McBride saw the rebound cleared off the line. Finally a good run forward by Kyle saw him get into a great position but then blast the ball high, wide and not very handsome.
What to make of it all then? We were probably just the better team in the first half. We played well and matched Alloa all over the pitch. But I think we ran out of steam a wee bit in the second half. We looked absolutely knackered after about 55 minutes and the minute their first goal went in, our heads went down. That made me think we were kind of hoping for 0-0 or maybe at best a wee goal to hang onto. In truth though, Alloa were much better than us second half. Where we tired, they seemed to just keep going. They breezed through the second half and were comfortable winners in the end. 4-0 probably flattered them a wee bit and there was an element of fortune about some of the goals but they were worthy winners and will be there or thereabouts at the year end. QP also did them a favour today beating Livi and they'll be difficult to remove from the top of the league.
As for us this might be controversial but looking at the team today I wonder if it is just a season too far for our defence. After the Brechin game where their performance wasn't the best, there was a definite improvement today. But I think they were found wanting at various times against an organised and pacey Alloa team. Time will tell and I don't think we have many alternatives but I'd be interested in others views.
Attendance today was 401 which is an improvement on previous weeks. Alloa seemed to have a decent away support with them - maybe 50:50 split of fans today? Boyd won man of the match and deservedly so. He looked right up for the game and has plenty of skill. Ross Davidson might find it difficult getting his number 8 jersey back on today's performance.
Not all doom and gloom then. Alloa are maybe not miles better than us but they're certainly kilometres better and thankfully we don't need to play them every week. If we concentrate on the Stennys QPs and Peterheads; maybe even the Brechins of this division and do our utmost to beat them then we will probably have enough to keep us up. If we can't take points off those teams then we will struggle. In truth we struggled most of last season after getting off to a good start. That good start at least gave us something to hold onto. We'll need to do it differently this year.
So I think we're 8th after today. Right now I'd settle for being 8th at the end of the season.
A slightly unusual line up today, brought about by injuries to Davidson and Wallace no doubt. First thing I noticed was both Fish and Mick sporting Jamie Vardy-esque wrist strappings. Unfortunately that's where any comparison with Vardy ended, except right enough that I'm sure both Vardy and Fish are no strangers to a WKD or two for breakfast every once in a while. Mick on the other hand looks like he's more of a Ready Brek sort of guy and I know he's tee total.
Rovers kicked off and as we do, started brightly. We seemed to have two up front for most of the game today but I couldn't really distinguish much of a formation beyond that and the usual 4 at the back. The midfield was a bit of a mish mash for me. We certainly competed with Alloa for the entire first half and probably shaded it if I am honest. But we were at sixes and sevens a bit whilst Alloa had an assured calm about their possession and distribution - switching play at will.
The game was only 2 minutes old when Fish got booked (of course he did) for attempting to strangle an Alloa player. A wee bit harsh perhaps but it probably allowed the ref to put down a marker that he wasn't to be messed with. In fairness I thought the ref was okay today.
We had a few decent chances in the first half. Willis hit a great shot wide after about 15 minutes. Then we created a great chance down the left hand side but the final effort was blazed over the bar. Alloa's reply to that was a break forward where a shot from all of 30 yards cannoned back off the post. Reidy then beat a couple of players as he broke forward before passing to McBride who wasted the chance after a good few step overs too.
The best chance of the half probably fell to Stewart following some good work by Willis but he snatched at the shot when he had time to compose himself and another shot ended up in row z. Another good move started by Fish sliding in and winning the ball saw it break to Stewart but he couldn't get a decent shot away. Stewart also saw a nice control and turn cynically end with a scything tackle just outside the box but we couldn't convert the free kick - Boyd hitting the ball straight at the wall. We were causing Alloa all sorts of problems down their left hand side but to be fair they had their chances too. A free kick was fired straight at Ross and a header finished just over.
And then just as the first half was drawing to an end, the wee dug made it's first appearance of the year. Looked to me like it might have been the same dug as last season but it was quickly removed. So honours even at the end of the first half and as I said, I think we just shaded it.
Into the second half and what a turnaround. And not in a good way. We should have gone 1-0 up in truth. Boyd, who had a great game I thought, robbed the Alloa defender and sprinted forward with just really the keeper to beat and another defender closing him down a bit. He delayed too long before passing to Stewart which resulted in Stewart getting to the ball just about the same time as Parry and he blocked the shot. That was a real wasted effort. Boyd obviously fancied the shot himself but by the time he realised Stewart was in a better position it was too late.
From there on in it was all Alloa. Their first goal came from some decent play where we didn't really clear our lines. The ball broke to Alloa on the edge of the box and the shot was deflected past Ross for 1-0. The ball didn't seem that far away from Ross and I know it was deflected but could he have saved it or at least made a better attempt - maybe?
Goal number 2 was also a bit calamitous. A kind of nothing free kick conceded and the Alloa number 3 stepped up and hit a cracker of a shot. It came back off the post, hit keeper Ross and ended up in the back of the net for 2-0. It wasn't long before it was 3-0. This time a sweeping move down our right hand side and a good cross was finished with a decent header. 4-0 again came down our right hand side where a low cross was turned into his own net by captain Mick.
And that was that. We had a couple of chances towards the end. A corner was headed onto the bar by Mick and then McBride saw the rebound cleared off the line. Finally a good run forward by Kyle saw him get into a great position but then blast the ball high, wide and not very handsome.
What to make of it all then? We were probably just the better team in the first half. We played well and matched Alloa all over the pitch. But I think we ran out of steam a wee bit in the second half. We looked absolutely knackered after about 55 minutes and the minute their first goal went in, our heads went down. That made me think we were kind of hoping for 0-0 or maybe at best a wee goal to hang onto. In truth though, Alloa were much better than us second half. Where we tired, they seemed to just keep going. They breezed through the second half and were comfortable winners in the end. 4-0 probably flattered them a wee bit and there was an element of fortune about some of the goals but they were worthy winners and will be there or thereabouts at the year end. QP also did them a favour today beating Livi and they'll be difficult to remove from the top of the league.
As for us this might be controversial but looking at the team today I wonder if it is just a season too far for our defence. After the Brechin game where their performance wasn't the best, there was a definite improvement today. But I think they were found wanting at various times against an organised and pacey Alloa team. Time will tell and I don't think we have many alternatives but I'd be interested in others views.
Attendance today was 401 which is an improvement on previous weeks. Alloa seemed to have a decent away support with them - maybe 50:50 split of fans today? Boyd won man of the match and deservedly so. He looked right up for the game and has plenty of skill. Ross Davidson might find it difficult getting his number 8 jersey back on today's performance.
Not all doom and gloom then. Alloa are maybe not miles better than us but they're certainly kilometres better and thankfully we don't need to play them every week. If we concentrate on the Stennys QPs and Peterheads; maybe even the Brechins of this division and do our utmost to beat them then we will probably have enough to keep us up. If we can't take points off those teams then we will struggle. In truth we struggled most of last season after getting off to a good start. That good start at least gave us something to hold onto. We'll need to do it differently this year.
So I think we're 8th after today. Right now I'd settle for being 8th at the end of the season.
