Father Barrys Sign (Top Half)

Can pay cash at gate, you're all good.

Sauchie would have been a cracker, home or away. We'll at least get some publicity playing Open Goal Broomhill, but theyre in brilliant form- a proper tough tie.

Meant to add- think I might be in the minority but I really like the tangerine away kit, even more so with the sponsor added. I saw a guy wearing it at East End Park on the opening day of the season- you can buy direct from Pendle with no sponsor. If Pendle can add the sponsor I'm definitely buying.

I totally get your point- but it was too late by that time anyway- we were already two down. That was certainly where we were getting exposed but I'd argue that we should have been a lot better in cutting the supply line off. We had 6 guys in front of the back 4 chasing shadows for the majority of the first half. For all that Falkirk played well- and they undoubtedly did- it was uncharacteristic of those 6 players. Just like the opening goal against Dunfermline the other week at Recs- we looked shell shocked after losing the goal (goals in this example) and it took us a long time to recover and get some element of foothold in the game. And by then we were 3 down and the game was lost. I don't think it's a huge cause for concern to get alarm bells ringing. It's part time football, I don't expect to hit a high level every single game. Definitely areas to look at though.

Before last night we were the form team in the league. As much of a nightmare as last nights first half performance was, overall I think theres a lot of encouraging signs and we're pretty much where I expected us to be in the league. In particular, goals and good performances are being shared amongst the squad as a whole. Connor Sammon has double figures, but we arent over reliant on him to find the net- whereas last season we were pretty knackered when Euan Henderson was off form or injured. We still struggle when Scougall isnt playing but thats understandable. In terms of the managers approach, you can look at it 2 ways- I dont particularly like Cawley at right back or O'Donnell left back- but no-one can accuse him of not having a plan B. Sometimes his approach works, other times we have an off day. But last night the issue was players not doing simple things correctly rather than the overall approach to the game- and Falkirk actually playing really well, probably the best Ive seen a team against us all season.

Best time of the week- Saturday morning listening to build up for the game

Its the classic football manager cliche- "dont get too high and dont get too low" for me with regards to Saturday. I actually thought we were okay up until the opener- fell out of it a bit for the remainder of the half and the second goal was obviously a real blow- such a simple goal to lose at a terrible time. Also thought Rodden was limited in effect- but I give the credit to both Dunfermline centre backs who were excellent rather than giving Rodden too much of a hard time. Its like Waspie says a few posts up about the better teams. Rodden has been good so far but facing Dunfermlines defence is a big step up for him compared to where he was previously. And fair play to him- he never hid and put in a ton of work even when nothing was really coming off. Second half we were obviously better. But I think Dunfermline had the 2-goal lead and were quite comfortable letting us play and hit on the counter. MacIver going off injured was a blow, as he had pretty much won everything in the air up to that point. Cawley was a threat, and again Donnelly caused problems in his own cumbersome way. Scougall was excellent all afternoon for me- didnt deserve to be on the losing side. We lost a couple of soft goals, and thats always going to make it tough against a team with a fairly solid defence. Cammy left wing back is a bit of a nonsense for me and expecting a couple of changes this Saturday- but I wouldnt say it needs knocked down and started from scratch. Dunfermline got their lead and managed the game really well on Saturday. We werent terrible- better than Palmerston the previous week.

I cant blame Queens fans for seeing us as one of the worst teams theyve faced- but interestingly enough FC Edinburgh are arguably the best we've faced this season based on that single performance against us anyway. The dust will probably settle in terms of a pecking order eventually- but looking at how tight it is between the top 5 its currently pretty difficult to predict a direction of travel for the league table. Even Peterhead- who looked like utter whipping boys when we played them about a month back- have picked up 4 points from their last two games.

Gibson was the best player on the pitch, to run the show to that extent from a predominantly wide position was pretty impressive. Alloa were indeed over run for much of the game- Robertson spent too much time chasing shadows and Scougall flirted on the peripherals of the game all too often. I thought MacIver won some good balls in the first half but fell out of the game a bit til the end. Defence switched off for the goal but overall I thought Stanger was good and the goalkeeper clearly kept us in it with some fine saves. Great delivery from Church for the equaliser, and encouraging to see us be clinical by converting I guess the only real clear cut chance we created in the game. Not a great day performance wise but very encouraging that we still came away with a result- Queens played well overall.

Looks like no Rory McAllister for Montrose against us on Saturday- assume he'll serve his suspension from his red card against Peterhead for our game. A wee bonus as he always scores against us without fail.

Is it just pay at gate for away support this season? Looks like home tickets only on the website.

Don't derail the doom guys

Agree that maybe not the type of striker we maybe expected to see- more of a foil and his scoring record suggests that. Certainly cant judge him based on his previous brief spell at Alloa. That was at the beginning of season 2016/17 where we had that electric start to the campaign under Jack Ross. Understandable he couldnt get into our starting 11 at that time and in fact all of his appearances at Alloa came from the bench. I've always been quite impressed by him in games against us since then- and believe he scored twice against us for both Queens Park and Arbroath. Ive no doubt Brian Rice can see everything we can see, so might be interesting to see how he slots Donnelly into his gameplan.

Manager actively seeking new recruits as per his interview post match vs Airdrie. Edinburgh game was defensively a disaster, but first goal aside on Saturday we were much stronger at the back and soaked up a lot of Airdrie pressure. We werent clinical enough when the chances came our way on Saturday. I dont think it can be argued Airdrie deserved the points on the balance of play. But had we taken one of those chances at key times it would have made the match a lot more interesting and perhaps changed the dynamics of the game. Airdrie also got the good fortune for the ricochet off the woodwork for the second goal that we didnt get on a couple of similar occasions when we hit the bar. Strength in depth is the main issue this season which is understandable. As Waspie and others have said, strongest 11 is pretty good, but any injuries cause problems- particularly to key guys such as Scougall. Cant agree the recruitment has been awful, or that we should simply just throw in the towel and give up 4 matches into the season.

That's right I completely forgot Alloa won there on the road to the final. Every round I'm sure was away wins- Cowdenbeath, Airdrie, Ross County and Stirling Albion.

I think the only really decent day Alloa fans have ever had at Airdries current ground was winning the Challenge Cup Final there vs Inverness in 1999. That play-off semi final performance was indeed a shocker and we were very fortunate to come away from that with only a single goal deficit. Like the Airdrie fans referenced, I cant even remember the game right before the play-off semi where Kirkpatrick scored the winner, even though i was definitely there. I think we had already qualified for the play-offs and Im guessing Airdrie were also pretty much there too making it a very low key affair. As for last season- in the first fixture there we left ourselves with too much to do after Airdries second which was an absolute worldie- but we should have really taken a point on the balance of play. The boxing day game was a disaster sitting incognito amongst Airdrie fans (away supporters banned due to Omicron outbreak) 2 down after a shambolic opening 10 minutes. When Airdries third went in (another cracker) part of me was actually hoping Airdrie would get a few more and perhaps accelerate our previous managers inevitable slide towards the exit door. Alas Euan Henderson put in a consolation goal almost immediately for Alloa to scupper any hopes of that happening. The podcast with Kevchenko,KierenAAFC and AndyDD is a really good buildup for the game for both sets of fans- worth a listen tomorrow morning pre match if anyone hasnt already done so.

Quite a bizarre game. I thought we played better last week, but despite Kelty giving us 2 absolute gifts thought we still deserved to win comfortably. We took a good half hour to really get going and unsurprisingly looked a whole lot better in 2nd half when Robbo came on and we had full backs in their natural positions. That's the main issue I see so far- our strongest 11 should give anyone in the league a game. But although the players are certainly capable, fitting square pegs in round holes by necessity is producing mixed results. I felt sorry for Church, because he improved the team from the bench, reacted well to being dropped from the starting 11- but will probably be remembered for not stopping that cross for the inconsequential Kelty consolation. Kelty passed the ball around okay but our defence had a fairly easy afternoon. They also looked ropey at the back, and the first goal shouldn't be happening at any level above primary school really. Pleased for Rodden with his 2 goals and agree with Kieren that he may be more suited to the impact sub role for now.

Scougall was quite a frustrating watch early on. He was obviously disrupted by injuries. But when he played his touch and ability to open up space had all the elements of a successor to Iain Flannigan. He just wasnt influencing games as much as I thought he was capable of. Barry Ferguson deploying him as a winger really summed up his tenure as manager. For a guy who was a really good midfield player at a high level to be so clueless about putting together a balanced midfield really was beyond belief. Thankfully Rice has seen what we could all see, and now we are getting the best out of him. With a lot more part time clubs handing out contracts beyond the standard one year, we simply had to follow suit or end up left behind. A really sensible piece of business by the club.

Thought there was definitely more positives than negatives last night. Defence looked fairly solid after a few flutters in the opening stages of the game- with Stanger, Graham and Taggart all performing well. Goalkeeper once again stood tall when called upon and looks a really decent acquisition. Not keen on Taggart at left centre back, but the guy is so consistent you could really put him anywhere on the field Church did lose his man for the County opener, and he knew it. But to Countys credit it was a decent delivery that hung in the air and asked questions. Sammon wanted the penalty and after his Saturday hat-trick thats pretty normal. If Scougalls on the pitch he takes it. I did have a feeling he would miss, particularly after the short delay as the ref sorted out a bit of jostling on the edge of the area. Not the big mans best night but he put in a proper shift as usual We carried far more of a threat and purpose when Cawley and Scougall came on the pitch- no real surprise there but we played some really good stuff 2nd half. MacIver (who has taken a bit of time to get going in pre season) and Rodden both put in decent performances. MacIvers header looked in all the way but unfortunately hit the post. Khyyam was busy and being a general nuisance to the County defenders from the bench. Looked like he did the job the manager asked of him. Decent competitive game with a good tempo from the off and even a wee bit of nastiness every now and then- enjoyed it

Cawley on his honeymoon, just got married. I think Robbo might just be on holiday but not 100%- might be something work related too.

A long but good day out on Saturday- nice town, nice ground and locals all really friendly. Buckie definitely gave us far more of a game than the result suggests. After Alloa equalised I didnt sense the outcome would be in much doubt though. Wasnt vintage stuff from Alloa, but we had plenty of regular starters out. Hogarth made some really good saves which was encouraging- nothing spectacular but just stood strong when Buckie were putting pressure on our goal. Obviously Sammon hitting the goal trail was great to see, and he was too good for them overall. Similarly Roddens goal was a really well placed header at a key moment of the game to put Alloa ahead for the first time. Miller also looked decent in the middle of the park, particularly in Scougalls absence which was a real plus point. I thought O'Donnell had a decent game and was always an outball- but we still look far more dangerous going forward on the right- with Taggarts deliveries- than we do on the left. Still in with a chance of qualification from the group, although tomorrow nights game will be tough and the rest day has fallen pretty favourably for Dunfermline looking ahead to the last game on Saturday. Not that it really matters all that much anyway.

I've been thinking the same through pre season- that a combination of the budget not being what it was, and a dip in what can be done in the transfer market overall. And facing reality, our status has dropped a bit. We are still one of the top part time teams, but there are other options for top part time players now. Arbroath tore it up in the Championship last season, and I believe Cove are still part time and they've taken a fair few seasoned pros dropping down a level. For what it's worth I think the manager has taken the correct approach by using the budget to retain much of the team, topping it up with more cost effective options. He did well to keep the likes of Taggart and Scougall at the club- top players who would walk into any team at part time level and a lot of lower end full time clubs. I think he'll still utilise the loan market, but we will probably have to be more patient there and wait for other clubs squads to settle before conducting this business. If we get a fair bit of luck on the injury front I still think we can compete for playoff positions. But the league is pretty competitive this season and it may be tough if the likes of Scougall and Robbo get injured.

Hopefully keeper situation gets resolved prior to next Tuesday. If we are bringing a new keeper in ideally would want them to get a runout in the closed door game on Saturday. Thankfully appears Muir is okay. But if we were signing him I doubt he would be able to play for a couple of weeks minimum. Unless we get the rumoured loan keeper in quicker, I'd imagine Keir Burt would be in goal for the East Fife and Buckie games.

Yes, heard keeper was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, but had absolutely no recollection of what happened. Was a pretty sombre end to the game, referee was 100% correct to call time on it. Just glad it was not more serious than it turned out. As Waspie states, not much happened first half but second we were on top for a good spell and looked really good. MacIver and Sammon missed chances youd expect theyd put away with a bit more match sharpness. We've seen the team progressing pretty well from game to game in terms of passing fluency, with a good mix of opposition- the pre season programme clearly had some thought behind it so credit must go to the manager for that. Good for the fans too- but have to say Im probably maxed out on friendlies now and looking forward to more competitive stuff next week.

Its Alloa mate- we'll set aboot ye on the terraces. You'll have no trouble whatsoever- if in doubt just head across to gazebo stand (traditional away side) or sit in the main stand with the kids.