Alloa vs Airdrie 1/4/23

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, Diamond1924 said:

Couldn’t see it! Been one of the poorest for me over the last 3/4 games 

 

I'd actually agree, although I think he's been generally quite poor most of season, it's just that in the last few games everyone else has played so well that comparatively he has looked worse. He had a wee spell around Christmas time where he hit form but apart from that he hasn't been at his best. His form has always been patchy, there's obviously more to his game than goals but in terms of goals he tends to score a lot in short spells, then hardly score any for months.

He's still more than worth his place in the team, but I do think he gets quite an easy ride off fans because he's popular. For example a couple of weeks ago (after a 6-1 win) there was a fan on here suggesting we change formation to 2 up front just to help him score goals! He likes cutting inside but I think he needs to be trying to go in behind more often. McGill has managed to start scoring because he's coming off the line and running in behind much more, I don't think Smith looks to do this enough. By now everyone knows what he wants to do (cut inside across a couple of players and get a shot away) so he needs to add some more variety to his game. I'm not sure I'd say he's any better a player now than he was when he first came to us. Apart from the Montrose game his best performance I can remember was away to Hearts in the cup, which is over 3 years ago.

Like most fans I really like him, and if we are to have a chance in the play-offs we'll need him to hit another purple patch, so hopefully he's saving another batch of goals for the end of the season.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Diamonds are Forever

[Waspie]

6 minutes ago, dextermorgan said:

I believe that Taggart was there on the left to nullify Gabby McGill, and to be fair it worked for a large part of the game. On another day we could have been more clinical and finished it off early but not to be. I will take two memories fronm today however, that totally incompetent and inconsistent referee plus that 14st rucksack that Gal had on his back called Durnan...a win's a win!

Taggart has been playing left back for a few weeks due to injuries to Church and Strachan. I don't know if Strachan wasn't fit enough to start today or did the manager just want to stick with a winning team. I'd have had Strachan and Scougall starting if they were fit enough though, winning run or not.

Frustrating to hear Cawley ended up at RWB again. 

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, Diamond1924 said:

Hardly a classic but a well deserved 3 points. Thought we were the better team overall but was puzzled by our subs. Telfer just zaps all the energy out of our midfield. Much prefer Deveney. 
 

Smith looks a mere shadow of himself. Seems like he’s away for sure. 

Who would you have put on,  Deveney blows out his arse after an hour every game,   fully expect Telfer to be back in the side before long alongside McCabe in the middle of the park anyway..

 

Smith your right, I fully expect to be away,  he is still  week on week one of our better performers though.....

[Diamonds are Forever]

Probably our best result of the season. Won't get the headlines of the last 3 weeks but to win away to 3rd place is our best result yet, especially given Alloa's home record. It also gives me a bit more confidence that if we do get into the play-offs we have a defence that can see a game out and dig in. Fair play to McCabe too for putting his ego to the side and keeping McMaster in the team instead of him.

In terms of reaching the play-offs it's a huge win. A defeat today and Alloa would have been all but assured of a play-off spot, leaving us fighting with the rest with a tough run of games. We still have tough games but are playing very well and no-one else seems to be putting any form together (apart from Queens, even if today's result didn't look convincing) so there's no-one we should fear. If we beat Montrose next week, with either/both Alloa and Queens guaranteed to drop points then we'll be almost there I think. Montrose probably have the best fixtures left of everyone so it's crucial we win and don't allow them back into the race.

[Passionate]

50 minutes ago, printer said:

I actually thought we played well, although Airdrie deserved to win. Indeed thought it was a good entertaining game between two in form teams.

Airdrie had more options in attack, where their quick movement stretched us at times and lead to a few chances. Overall though I thought our defence played well, with Durnan in particular imposing himself physically on Gallagher and having a good game.

Clearly Taggs on the left is frustrating at times, but with Church not in the squad and Doyle playing well on the right the manager had restricted options in that respect, especially if he wants to change formation to a back three, which is how we lined up after the four subs.

Also thought Airdrie were solid defensively and that was a major reason we were restricted to few chances.

Delighted with the win and dogged performance,  I expected more from Alloa,    looked to me a lot of square pegs and round holes,  Taggs looks wasted on the left, Cawley always plays well against us,  poor and Scougall who would walk into any team apart from Allo a ( injured ?)

 

Still expect you to make the playoffs,  we could meet again soon , you never know.

[CapitalDiamond]

Was on the stream today.

 

Shout out to Alloa. Crystal clear picture, balanced commentary. They were having a nightmare with the instant replay at times but dealt with it in good humour! 
 

Amazing to think how well clubs adapted to live streams out the back of Covid. Really professional stuff

[printer]

29 minutes ago, Waspie said:

Taggart has been playing left back for a few weeks due to injuries to Church and Strachan. I don't know if Strachan wasn't fit enough to start today or did the manager just want to stick with a winning team. I'd have had Strachan and Scougall starting if they were fit enough though, winning run or not.

Frustrating to hear Cawley ended up at RWB again. 

It is a bit. I think we lost something when Doyley went off too, I thought we were poorer defensively losing the determination and physicality he brings. 

Fair play to Rice for changing it though, four subs and a formation change, generally positive subs too. I thought they made a difference to us going forwards, but not enough unfortunately. 

[Kenny_m]

Note that Craig Watson was none too complimentary about the playing surface in his post match interview, I assume its due for replacement?

[Diamonds are Forever]

3 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Note that Craig Watson was none too complimentary about the playing surface in his post match interview, I assume its due for replacement?

 

Is that the original plastic pitch that Alloa had? Or is it their second one?

Quite a few clubs who got pitches around 10 years ago when it became more commonplace now reaching the point where they need replaced. We did ours this season, I think Queens are doing theirs this summer (their one is awful at the moment) and a few others looking like they need replaced. Didn't think Alloa's looked as bad as ours last season or Palmerston this season to be honest.

[Diamond1924]

56 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Who would you have put on,  Deveney blows out his arse after an hour every game,   fully expect Telfer to be back in the side before long alongside McCabe in the middle of the park anyway..

 

Smith your right, I fully expect to be away,  he is still  week on week one of our better performers though.....

I’d of put McCabe or Stanway on. Telfer just doesn’t do enough for me especially when games are physical 

[printer]

36 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Is that the original plastic pitch that Alloa had? Or is it their second one?

Quite a few clubs who got pitches around 10 years ago when it became more commonplace now reaching the point where they need replaced. We did ours this season, I think Queens are doing theirs this summer (their one is awful at the moment) and a few others looking like they need replaced. Didn't think Alloa's looked as bad as ours last season or Palmerston this season to be honest.

It's been relaid once. Can't remember exactly when, others can confirm. Not aware that there's any issue with it.

PS Our first match on the original pitch was, IIRC, a 6-0 pumping from yourselves.

[LeodhasXD]

 

35 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Is that the original plastic pitch that Alloa had? Or is it their second one?

Quite a few clubs who got pitches around 10 years ago when it became more commonplace now reaching the point where they need replaced. We did ours this season, I think Queens are doing theirs this summer (their one is awful at the moment) and a few others looking like they need replaced. Didn't think Alloa's looked as bad as ours last season or Palmerston this season to be honest.

Ours was new in the Jack Ross/Jim Goodwin season of 2016-17. It's exactly what you've laid at your pitch but 6 years older and it's still got a couple years of life in it yet. The first few years they are superb but eventually they get worn down.

Falkirk's and Queen of the South's is awful. Ours is still a good surface - lightyears ahead of the old surface at the Excelsior too for comparison.

[LeodhasXD]

1 hour ago, CapitalDiamond said:

Was on the stream today.

 

Shout out to Alloa. Crystal clear picture, balanced commentary. They were having a nightmare with the instant replay at times but dealt with it in good humour! 
 

Amazing to think how well clubs adapted to live streams out the back of Covid. Really professional stuff

Thank you - Been having one different thing go wrong at every game these days - today's turn was the instant replay.

[Mr November]

As others have said, as great as scoring five, sex and seven was, that result was a lot more enjoyable. I thought it was a fairly even first half with Alloa shading it but Watson’s goal came at the perfect time. It was the one moment of real quality in the game and deservedly the winner. We started the second half really well and while I was a bit nervous as the game went on, I never really felt like Alloa were going to score. It’s exactly the kind of game we’ve struggled with across this season and the kind of tough encounter we may need to navigate our way through in the play-offs, where scoring two or three early goals isn’t always possible. 

Fair play to McCabe for not keeping himself in the team. I’m still not fully sold on McMaster and think some of our fans are wildly overrating him based on a few good games but keeping him in the team was the right call and he did well again today. As much as McCabe has a better range of passing, McMaster’s ability to simply stay further up the park and hold his position makes a big difference.

I still think Alloa will go on and make the top four, I’m not sure who will finish where but you have to fancy Airdrie to push on and finish third from here. I know he only came on as a sub but today was the least threatening Sammon has looked in a while. He’s not a great player these days but while he’s usually a handful for our defence, they handled him, Donnelly and MacIver really well today.

[LeodhasXD]

 

[David Fernández]

9 hours ago, Mr November said:

As others have said, as great as scoring five, sex and seven was, that result was a lot more enjoyable. I thought it was a fairly even first half with Alloa shading it but Watson’s goal came at the perfect time. It was the one moment of real quality in the game and deservedly the winner. We started the second half really well and while I was a bit nervous as the game went on, I never really felt like Alloa were going to score. It’s exactly the kind of game we’ve struggled with across this season and the kind of tough encounter we may need to navigate our way through in the play-offs, where scoring two or three early goals isn’t always possible. 

Fair play to McCabe for not keeping himself in the team. I’m still not fully sold on McMaster and think some of our fans are wildly overrating him based on a few good games but keeping him in the team was the right call and he did well again today. As much as McCabe has a better range of passing, McMaster’s ability to simply stay further up the park and hold his position makes a big difference.

I still think Alloa will go on and make the top four, I’m not sure who will finish where but you have to fancy Airdrie to push on and finish third from here. I know he only came on as a sub but today was the least threatening Sammon has looked in a while. He’s not a great player these days but while he’s usually a handful for our defence, they handled him, Donnelly and MacIver really well today.

At the game the guy sitting next to me criticised everything that McMaster did and talked about him for 20 minutes solid during the game saying 'he looks like a young boy' 'he just isn't good enough' etc. Seemed more interested in criticising him than watching the game.

I don't think he's the finished article far from it but I think he does have potential to be a very good player in the future, I think the one player who gets hyped up from our support is Lewis McGregor. I'm not convinced by him at all, he is only 18 though but he isn't anywhere near LJ's level.

I wouldn't actually mind us offering McMaster and LJ a contract next season as I can't see them getting games with St Mirren in the future.

[Kenny_m]

21 minutes ago, David Fernández said:

At the game the guy sitting next to me criticised everything that McMaster did and talked about him for 20 minutes solid during the game saying 'he looks like a young boy' 'he just isn't good enough' etc. Seemed more interested in criticising him than watching the game.

I don't think he's the finished article far from it but I think he does have potential to be a very good player in the future, I think the one player who gets hyped up from our support is Lewis McGregor. I'm not convinced by him at all, he is only 18 though but he isn't anywhere near LJ's level.

I wouldn't actually mind us offering McMaster and LJ a contract next season as I can't see them getting games with St Mirren in the future.

We're at that stage of the season where talks on player contracts for next will be ongoing, some may be done already. We will be slightly in limbo until we know what league we're in therefore we really should be looking at players who are capable of playing the championship.

LJ didn't cut it at Inverness, McGregor was deemed not good enough at Morton and McMaster has still lots to do. Of course they are all young enough to improve but a risky strategy at the moment.

[Vegetableman]

The game went as i feared it might, Airdrie with better strikers than us .we don't really have an out and out striker since Offord went and with rodden injured, Airdrie deserving thier win , We just couldn't cut through A stout airdrie defence  much like a recent game with Dunfermline 

Coulson really should have had the ball in the net with Rae's first half blunder which summed up the whole game to me .

Still not all is lost ,Far from it luckily we only dropped one point to Edinburgh but it does make next week v QOTS crucial

Airdrie look like they could actually get out of this league in the playoffs it certainly is well overdue

As for us if we do make third or fourth i see a lack of goalscoring options being our downfall .

[Rossm25]

47 minutes ago, David Fernández said:

At the game the guy sitting next to me criticised everything that McMaster did and talked about him for 20 minutes solid during the game saying 'he looks like a young boy' 'he just isn't good enough' etc. Seemed more interested in criticising him than watching the game.

I don't think he's the finished article far from it but I think he does have potential to be a very good player in the future, I think the one player who gets hyped up from our support is Lewis McGregor. I'm not convinced by him at all, he is only 18 though but he isn't anywhere near LJ's level.

I wouldn't actually mind us offering McMaster and LJ a contract next season as I can't see them getting games with St Mirren in the future.

Probably the same bell end who was shouting "come up here mcmaster" at a game at the start of the season when he wasn't even on the bench. If it's the same boy he jist picks a player a year to abuse. Last years was agnew. 

[Diamonds are Forever]

11 minutes ago, David Fernández said:

At the game the guy sitting next to me criticised everything that McMaster did and talked about him for 20 minutes solid during the game saying 'he looks like a young boy' 'he just isn't good enough' etc. Seemed more interested in criticising him than watching the game.

I don't think he's the finished article far from it but I think he does have potential to be a very good player in the future, I think the one player who gets hyped up from our support is Lewis McGregor. I'm not convinced by him at all, he is only 18 though but he isn't anywhere near LJ's level.

I wouldn't actually mind us offering McMaster and LJ a contract next season as I can't see them getting games with St Mirren in the future.

 

Agree on both. McMaster is a decent young player, McCabe is clearly a technically superior player but that isn't the point. McMaster provides a much better balance to the midfield. Since he has come in to the team we've won 4 out of 4, scored 19 goals and conceded 2 (neither from open play). Not saying that's all down to him by any stretch but he's part of it.

For me Rhys is too slow and can't go with runners, he therefore drops deep to avoid players running off him but that then means the space in front of the back 4 is vacated. Also because he's good on the ball he sometimes drifts forward with it, so when we lose it again there is no midfield. It's also obvious from the last few games that we don't need his passing in there, we are still creating loads of chances and scoring goals. McMaster holding that position, picking up second balls and passing the ball 10 yards is all we need at the moment. We'll see how the next few games go but there's no reason at all to change it just now. It is also provides the thing we've all been calling for all season - someone on the touchline.