Saturday, September 17, 2005

Morton V Alloa

After the exploits of midweek it was back to league business for the mighty as they took on Alloa at Cappielow. It’s always nice to see Tom Hendrie back at Cappielow - brings a smile to your face to see him going mental at every decision.

Change in the Ton line-up from Wednesday night - Jason, John Adam & Davie Macgregor dropped to the bench with Temps, Harding and Alex Walker taking their place. Mcinally opted then for a 3-4-1-2 formation with Walker playing alongside Chris Millar in central midfield and Andy McLaren sitting behind the front 2 of Vialli & Temps.

Ton started brightly but as with most of their games this season they found they had the bulk of possession but all too often the final ball or their decision making in the final third let them down. After the buzz of the initial opening spell the game had started to settle down when Spoonsy put us ahead. He picked the ball up just inside the Alloa half and with Alloa stringing 9 men across their box he was allowed to carry the ball to around 20yards out at the right hand corner of the box before hitting a low drive into the opposite corner of the net at the WDE. Its was no more than Ton deserve at this point and it was certainly a relief to get it as all too often this season we haven't capitalized on our early pressure and have been made to sweat later in the game.

As it turns out we almost got a 2nd shortly after when the ball broke kindly for Temps 8 yards out dead centre of the goal but unfortunately for the big guy the keeper produce a stunning save to deny Temps his 1st league goal of the season. The home support didn't have long to wait for another Ton goal though and this time it was the impressive Alex Walker who composed himself before firing a powerful curling drive high beyond the keeper in 34th minute.

The Ton created a couple more half chances before the break and went in 2-nil which probably flattered Alloa a little.

Normal service was resumed at the start of the 2nd with the Ton having bulk of possession but again being let down by the final ball and the game went into a quiet period before Ryan Harding took it upon himself to liven things up - fannying about (only way to describe it) on the half way line he was dispossessed by Jose who broke up the park a teed up Lurch who was playing alongside to find the net. 2-1 and suddenly we got a game on our hands - Not that Alloa had done anything or proceeded to do anything to cause us any alarm - Just Ton players suddenly became nervous - passes went astray and for 10 mins we lost our way a little.

Just as we were questioning Mcinally's & his use of subs up stepped Andy Mclaren to show why we missed him so much last week - On the right touchline he left a defender for dead and unlike Finlayson, who had wasted around 20 similar opportunities so far, he sent a delightful cross to the back post where Temps rose above the defender to head down past the keeper. Seconds later and it was 4 Finlayson cut in from the right and his half hit shot managed to creep in at the back post.

Mcinally seen this a cue to take off the old boys so off came the fairly ineffectual Vialli and Mclaren and on came Scott Mclaughlin & Jason.

Jason went close on a couple of occasions 1 when thru one on one (again - he seems to make a habit of missing these) and 1 from a good strike from edge of the box.

Chris Millar then capped a better all round performance with a goal when he worked himself free in the box to hit home from 10 yards.

Right at the death as the Ton fans were hovering round the exits and most of the 34 Alloa fans had accepted defeat Davie McGregor gave away a penalty as their left midfielder tried to go by him on the right touchline he stuck out a foot and conceded a corner but the referee appeared to point for a goal kick to which to Alloa player started appealing they wanted a corner turn out the ref had pointed to the spot - Very harsh indeed - infact wrong decision but fortunately it didn't prove costly as Mcgurn was sent wrong way with the last kick of the game.

5-2 victory with 5 different scorers - Got the impression that they could still step up a couple of gears if required - This could have easily been approaching double figures had we taken our chances and been more prudent in defence.

Temps deservedly got MOM with another good display - won a lot of headers, used possession well and the Shed seems to respond to that. Other stand outs were Walker who seems to get better with every game. Spoonsy - solid at the back and a goal to boot, Jim with another top notch performance and Chris Millar who had probably his best game of the season although still not back to the Chris of old.

Disappointments were Vialli who again doesn't look tuned in to the team/game/division. Mclaren who had one of his quieter games and Harding who seemed to dally on the ball too often. 1 other comment about the crowd which was only 2504 a fair drop from last week - hopefully a couple of wins on the road at Ayr & Partick can see us leapfrog Gretna who only drew with Thistle yesterday thus meaning a 1 point gap at the top of the division.

Other Results
Forfar 2 - 0 Dumbarton
Gretna 2 - 2 Partick Thistle
Raith 3 - 3 Ayr
Stirling 1 - 3 Peterhead

Next Week
Alloa v Gretna,
Ayr v Morton,
Dumbarton v Stirling,
Partick v Forfar,
Peterhead v Raith,

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