Alloa Athletic v Kelty Hearts

[printer]

Well? What do we think?

[BFTD]

This is already being described as "one of the matches on this weekend".

Two sides with a very similar record so far. Kinda screams score draw to me, but we obviously don't want to start rivalling Dumbarton as tie specialists. Hopefully we get in about them and take the points.

Funny that Stenny drew eight in a row last year, yet they're the only side without a draw to their name so far.

[Kelheart]

4 hours ago, printer said:

Well? What do we think?

We're gonna pump yiz 3 nil , joking aside usually close games but we have a few out for this one and capitulated last 10 last week so would gladly take a point against the league leaders 

[Alloamad]

Is this the day we get a full 90 min performance out the boys? When we are on it we are pretty much unplayable but seem to be taking a bit time or going a goal down to get started.  This might seem harsh given the unbeaten and top of league status but in some spells of the game we haven’t done justice to our quality.

That said, for me it’s a Home win. We’ve got goals coming from all over the park and the defence and GK have been much improved since last season. 
Hopeful that Luke Rankine and Calum Waters can be back for today’s match or make the bench at least as it was looking pretty sparse last time out. 

[Waspie]

"When we are on it we're pretty much unplayable" is a pretty charitable take I think. I'd say given the injuries to the likes of Roberts, Scougall, Rankin and now Waters and the fact we haven't yet replaced some key men from last season that the team have done well to remain unbeaten. The foundations of a decent team are there and the St Johnstone and Partick games were real highs, but overall I think the gaffer is doing well with what he has and that should be applauded, rather than expecting much more from the team as it stands. His approach to the transfer market this summer has been fascinating and can only assume at this point that he is holding out for particular loans - which seems from the outside at least like a rather high risk strategy. Hopefully they are lined up and by the end of the month we'll have a couple of really good additions. But certainly feel we need those and the key men back fit if we are indeed going to really challenge and be "unplayable". 

In the meantime it's all about getting the best out of what we have: keeping it tight at the back and finding the right balance further up. The defensive part has generally been very good, attacking side more in flashes. Hopefully see more of those today. 

[Kelheart]

We are very light in midfield today with both Tidser and Allan out , Moore on the bench so reckon not fit , did I already say I'd take a draw

[Vegetableman]

Nervy end but  i reckon we deserved the win on the 2nd half,  3 times off the woodwork and some excellent saves by Adams , don't understand the offside goal as i swore there was a kelty player in front of the goalie some good saves from PJ too mind you but on the whole a worthy 3 points .

[Waspie]

A really good 3 points and another one we ground out without playing particularly well. First half was very flat with neither side looking capable of breaking the other down. Closest we came was the effort off the bar. Second half was played at a higher tempo and more enjoyable, although still very little penetration. It ultimately just took one wee bit of class from Kane Thomson on the left to totally open Kelty up and put it on a plate for Sammo. Great credit to young Thomson there, he really took on responsibility and it was a great wee burst and ball in. And credit to Sammo too who again gave us a lift off the bench. 

Everyone deserves praise though, again defended well and kept working even when we were struggling to really put much together. Clearly need more up front and wide but we all know that. Think Kev is more effective coming in from the left now but can see why he started central today to give us Cammy out wide. Cammy was good, as were Hetherington and Scougall further back. Think Scougall is best served further up but certainly an option in current role while Roberts is out. 

Hopefully reinforcements imminent but grinding out these points is a great habit to be in

Edited September 21 by Waspie

[printer]

1 minute ago, Waspie said:

A really good 3 points and another one we ground out without playing particularly well. First half was very flat with neither side looking capable of breaking the other down. Closest we came was the effort off the bar. Second half was played at a higher tempo and more enjoyable, although still very little penetration. It ultimately just took one wee bit of class from Kane Thomson on the left to totally open Kelty up and put it on a plate for Sammo. Great credit to young Thomson there, he really took on responsibility and it was a great wee burst and ball in. And credit to Sammo too who again gave us a lift off the bench. 

Everyone deserves praise though, again defended well and kept working even when we were struggling to really put much together. Clearly need more up front and wide but we all know that. Think Kev is more effective coming in from the left now but can see why he started central today to give us Cammy out wide. Cammy was good, as were Hetherington and Scougall further back. Think Scougall is best served further up but certainly an option in current role while Roberts is out. 

Hopefully reinforcements imminent but grinding out these points is a great habit to be in

Yeah, good to see Kane getting the assist with his positive run and excellent ball in. He's doing OK and certainly has promise.

Sammo was excellent when he came on. As well as his goal he was perhaps unlucky to have one chopped off for offside. His defensive work late on when Kelty had us under the cosh a big help. As was that of LD.

In fact the whole team put another good defensive shift in. Morgan Neill is starting to look like the player we thought we were getting from Cove - showed good leadership today.

I thought it was closer to a 4-1-4-1 today and that Scougs and Kev together gave us a bit more fluency than we have had in midfield. Stevie H was his usual important self.

Cammy and Steven Buchanan played well enough. Cammy's delivery is a big miss when he's not there.

Despite missing Scott Allan and Tidser, I thought Kelty were pretty decent. Young McCarvel looked promising and rapid. Not much in the game really - which will be scant consolation to the Kelty fans.

 

[leomessi1984]

5 minutes ago, printer said:

Yeah, good to see Kane getting the assist with his positive run and excellent ball in. He's doing OK and certainly has promise.

Sammo was excellent when he came on. As well as his goal he was perhaps unlucky to have one chopped off for offside. His defensive work late on when Kelty had us under the cosh a big help. As was that of LD.

In fact the whole team put another good defensive shift in. Morgan Neill is starting to look like the player we thought we were getting from Cove - showed good leadership today.

I thought it was closer to a 4-1-4-1 today and that Scougs and Kev together gave us a bit more fluency than we have had in midfield. Stevie H was his usual important self.

Cammy and Steven Buchanan played well enough. Cammy's delivery is a big miss when he's not there.

Despite missing Scott Allan and Tidser, I thought Kelty were pretty decent. Young McCarvel looked promising and rapid. Not much in the game really - which will be scant consolation to the Kelty fans.

 

Disappointed not to take something but Alloa solid as always. We missed some big players today which I think make the difference for us.

[Waspie]

29 minutes ago, printer said:

 

Sammo was excellent when he came on. As well as his goal he was perhaps unlucky to have one chopped off for offside. His defensive work late on when Kelty had us under the cosh a big help. As was that of LD.

 

 

I was in the stand today and at one of those corners at the end Andy roared at Sammo about Kelty hitting it onto the front post. The big man came tearing across the six yard box from the back post to the front to meet the ball and head it away . Such a great pro and already showing he was well worth another contract. 

Good to see Luke Rankin back on the bench today too, will make a real difference having him as another option in attack again. 

Edited September 21 by Waspie

[printer]

8 minutes ago, Waspie said:

I was in the stand today and at one of those corners at the end Andy roared at Sammo about Kelty hitting it onto the front post. The big man came tearing across the six yard box from the back post to the front to meet the ball and head it away . Such a great pro and already showing he was well worth another contract. 

Good to see Luke Rankin back on the bench today too, will make a real difference having him as another option in attack again. 

Indeed. Great big guy.

[printer]

Another thought. PJ was very good again today, as he has been all season, carrying on the improvement he made in the second half of last season. An important member of the side.

[LoganAAFC]

59 minutes ago, printer said:

Another thought. PJ was very good again today, as he has been all season, carrying on the improvement he made in the second half of last season. An important member of the side.

Big reason why we are top of the table. Of course you want the front end of the park scoring and doing their job but as long as PJ performs , as he is at a great standard this season we won't be doing too bad.

[Vegetableman]

Big Sammo getting closer to being a bit of a Legend round here, love the big guy long may his stay here continue  .

 

#feedthefish

[Rory]

Another clean sheet for PJ is good. Wonder if the continuity of the defence and GK from last season is helping as they're getting more used to playing together.

Great bit of play from Kane to set up Sammo. Surprised he got another go at left back after last week but he repaid Andy's faith.

Sammo proving his worth again, he's a great sub to be able to bring on. 

[printer]

53 minutes ago, Rory said:

Another clean sheet for PJ is good. Wonder if the continuity of the defence and GK from last season is helping as they're getting more used to playing together.

Great bit of play from Kane to set up Sammo. Surprised he got another go at left back after last week but he repaid Andy's faith.

Sammo proving his worth again, he's a great sub to be able to bring on. 

I'm sure it is. Always a positive IMO to have a consistent goalie and centre backs combination. 

They get to know each other's games better. Trust each other more.

Having a good goals conceded record builds confidence and gives them something to protect. Five clean sheets in seven games is a very good record.

As Andy says in his post match interview, it's the whole team that gets the clean sheet. I see on the highlights it was LD who cleared the late Kelty chance off the line.

[Carmel Wafer]

Tidser needs to get the keeper up for these injury time corners.

[BFTD]

Kudos again to @LeodhasXD for seemingly doing a dozen things at once on matchday, while also staying calm as everything goes wrong!  

Edit: hope you enjoy your Stenny break next month!

Edited September 22 by BFTD

[LeodhasXD]

3 hours ago, BFTD said:

Kudos again to @LeodhasXD for seemingly doing a dozen things at once on matchday, while also staying calm as everything goes wrong!  

Edit: hope you enjoy your Stenny break next month!

You've got to stop saying that. People will start realizing it's going wrong every week

Although the BBC audio commentary of the Celtic game is going off too and that's not as complicated so I guess it's not that bad.