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Alloa Athletic 2; ROSS COUNTY 0 |
Alloa confirmed their status as promotion candidates with a comprehensive victory over Ross County.
Alarm bells were ringing for Neale Cooper after a limp display sent the Dingwall side home despondent after the sending off of Kenny Gilbert merely hastened their demise.
In what was to prove the final flurry of his brief stay with County, Mark Hateley's head-flick set up John Fraser for an early chance which was missed, but the big striker failed to make any impression.
After the break, Alloa continued to be the more threatening side as Cameron forced Walker to make a fine save.
The game burst into life in the 48th minute when Kenny Gilbert felled Irvine in the box. As he was the last defender the referee had little option but to send the midfielder off. Irvine duly converted the spot kick.
Alloa's numerical advantage worked to good effect in the 54th minute when Cameron set up Little to finish at the far post.In the closing minutes, Steve Ferguson had a decent attempt stopped by Cairns, but Alloa were the worthy winners.
Ross County: Walker; Tully, McBain (Kinnaird, 50), Maxwell, Irvine, Gilbert, Shaw, Escalon (Finlayson, 60), Ferguson, Hateley (Ross, 51) and Fraser.
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ROSS COUNTY 1; Alloa Athletic 0 |
Derek Holmes opened his account for County in the fourth minute. Five successive corners brought an early reward for this pressure when Holmes volleyed home a Lennon corner.
Opportunities were few and far between and Alloa had much the better of the second half but Walker marshalled his defence well and a clean sheet was maintained.
At the other end County were restricted to long-range shots by Lennon and Duthie. New-signing Mark Duthie did have the ball in the net in the dying minutes but it was chalked off for an earlier infringement. Duthie was booked for his troubles.
Ross County: Walker; Tully, McBain, Maxwell, Irvine, McKay,D. Shaw (Wood, 89), Escalon (Ferguson, 50), Holmes, Lennon and Duthie. Unused Sub: Kinnaird.
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ROSS COUNTY 3; Alloa Athletic 4 |
It often seems that every match played in the Second Division has some bearing on the promotion and relegation struggles, and a high proportion of games tend to have some significance at the top of the table.
And so it was yesterday, as Terry Christie led his Alloa side north to tackle a Ross County outfit who desperately needed to keep the points at Victoria Park. This defeat leaves home boss Neale Cooper with the possibility of at least another season in the Second Division and already dark murmerings are to heard around Dingwall.
Even worse for Cooper was the manner of the defeat. County threw away a two-goal lead and, by the end of the game, were a shadow of the side that they were a matter of months ago. To be fair to the Highlanders though, they were beaten by an Alloa side on the brink of bigger things. Whether front man Martin Cameron will be there to enjoy them is another matter.
Cameron's clincher, three minutes from time, was his nineteenth goal of the season and a just reward for a tireless afternoon's work. Up against an exquisite central defence pairing of Ian Maxwell and Brian Irvine, Cameron refused to accept that any ball was lost.
Cameron almost set up the opener in the first minute after he had left Mark Duthie in his wake, Ian little pushed his cross behind. For much of the first half the game was characterised by sloppy finishing, mainly from the home side. Derek Holmes looked to be suffering from a lack of confidence in front of goal. Alloa, for their part, were finding that most of their attacks foundered on Maxwell who strolled through the first half hour.
County took the lead three minutes before half time when Colin Stewart's attempted clearance rattled off Craig Valentine and fell for Holmes who pushed the ball into the unguarded goal. The home side went further ahead nine minutes into the second half when a slip by Stewart presented the big striker with another tap-in from a couple of yards.
Stewart's opposite number Barry Thompson produced a howler of his own when he missed his clearance kick completely before bringing down Menelaws. Willie Irvine converted from the spot.
Steve Ferguson restored the home side's two-goal advantage in 63 minutes when he slammed home after dancing through the Alloa defencem but Irvine's second goal for Alloa, a well-placed long range effort, kept things interesting.
The game was being played like a cup-tie by this stage, with both sides in all-out attacking mode and questions being asked of the defences.
With nine minutes to go, Thompson mis-judged Irvine's cross and Gary Clark popped the equalser home from inside the six-yard box. And, when Clark pushed the ball through for Cameron to slip it under Thompson with three minutes left, there was no way back for County.But, as is often the case in this division, there is hardly time to draw breath as County travel to Recreation Park on Tuesday for the return match.
Ross County: Thompson; Fraser (McBain, 78), Duthie, Maxwell, Irvine, Gilbert, Shaw, Cormack, S Ferguson, Holmes and Feroz. Unused Subs: Kinnaird and Canning.
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Alloa Athletic 1; ROSS COUNTY 2 |
Ross County boss Neale Cooper praised his players after victory at Alloa last night which moves them back to second place in the Division Two table.
The Highlanders avenged a morale-sapping 4-3 defeat at the hands of Terry Christie's side on Saturday despite being without seven first team regulars at Recreation Park.
Cooper said: "It was a great fighting performance from all the boys. This is always a hard place to come and win but we dug in and managed to come away with the points.
"It is a fantastic result. They all did well and it had been very hard to lift themselves after the disappointment of Saturday.
"Gary Hamilton got his chance tonight in goals because we lost bad goals on Saturday and I felt we had to do something about it. Sometimes that can affect a keeper's confidence and this was too big a game to take a chance."
Alloa boss Christie admitted his men had turned in a flat performance as they passed up the chance to put pressure on leaders, Clyde, who lost at Queen of the South.
Christie said: "It was a poor performance from us. We lacked everything you need in a good football team. We had no sharpness about us and it was a very poor game.
"We had plenty of possession in the first half without really putting the back four under pressure so it was really meaningless.
"The second goal was a disaster from our point of view it was public park stuff and I felt that the first goal we surrendered possession too easily on the halfway line."
County boss Cooper was without seven injured first team regulars and dropped keeper Barry Thomson in favour of 19-year-old rookie Gary Hamilton, while Wasps' boss Christie fielded new loan player Colin Nish, signed yesterday morning from Dunfermline.
The young keeper was tested after just 14 minutes when Willie Irvine's corner was missed by the visitors' defence and Ian Little's close-range header seemed netbound until Hamilton pulled out a fine stop on his line.
However 19-year-old front man Nish wasn't so impressive in the 29th minute when Mark Wilson set off on a lung-bursting run from his own half to the edge of the County box. His through ball found Nish in time and space on the right side of the box, but a right-foot effort flew narrowly wide of Hamilton's goal.
Neither side looked likely to craft an opener during a tight first half but it was the visitors who grabbed the lead just three minutes after the restart.
Dave Mackay – starting his first match in more than two months – burst down the right flank and his cutback found Steve Ferguson on the edge of the box to net with a controlled right-foot effort.
And the visitors all but sealed the points 10 minutes later after a suicidal piece of defending from Wasps' full back Wilson.
Under pressure from George Shaw, Wilson attempted to find teammate Frank Conway in the middle but Derek Holmes intercepted to send Kenny Gilbert clear to net.
The hosts hit back, though, and ensured a nervy finale when sub Mark Donaghy sent Little clear on goal in the 73rd minute and the ex-Livingston midfielder slotted a right-foot effort beyond Hamilton.
However, the young keeper came to the Highlanders' rescue just two minutes later when Willie Irvine lashed in a curling right-foot free kick from the left flank which was destined for the postage stamp corner of Hamilton's goal before he brilliantly pushed the ball on to the bar.
Ross County: Hamilton; Canning, Duthie, Maxwell, Irvine, Gilbert, Shaw, McKay, Ferguson, Holmes (Kinnaird 87), Feroz (McBain 63).
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