Alloa 1 Saints 3 League Table Here
Team : Main, Robbo, Murray, McCann , Dods, Maxwell,
Hay, Reilly, Hartley, Paddy, Keigan
Subs : Cuthbert, Marco, Flash, Stevenson, Ferry
Well it might be another false dawn but after a decent performance in the abandoned game midweek, Saints followed it up with a good attacking performance at a soggy Recreation Park today and in the end run out easy winners with the large travelling support witnessing the miracle of Paddy not missing a sitter when he made it 2-1. Stuart McCluskey missed out thanks to his groin strain so Ryan McCann returned to the no 4 shirt with Saints lining up 4-3-3 with Murray and Dods making up the central defence and McCann going to the right wing.
It wasn't a bad start for us either but the only real action was a long-range low JR drive which was easily saved by Hogarth. Alloa were intent on playing the physical game though and Keigan, McCann and Reilly all came in for early attention whilst ref Ian Frickleton gave us an idea what sort of game he was in line for by for the most part ignoring the tackles on Saints players.
The home side posed enough of a threat though with surprisingly the danger coming from high crosses into the box. Whilst Main easily held their first corner, they still had a couple of crosses from their right which met free headers at the back post and it was only thanks to poor finishing that the score remained level. Not that that prevented Robbo from tearing a strip of Parker for allowing the Wasp at the back post - hmm I always thought defending was a job for defenders not a striker?
We had our first corner in 20 minutes and from JR's kick, Paddy's header was deflected to Hay only for his shot to be cleared off the line. Saints got the ball back on the attack but Keigan's effort was saved.
Saints were looking slow at times and the game was getting pretty scrappy but in the 27th minute Saints finally broke the deadlock. Another JR corner was flicked on by Dods to Hay and his header found the back of the net.
Unfortunately within a couple of minutes that lead had gone when an Alloa attack saw Saints fail to clear their lined and when the Alloa no 1, Fisher broke into the box Maxwell clearly brought him down (one of the few decisions that we didn't complain about). Seaton stepped up to the spot and sent Main the wrong way to make it 1-1.
The physical aspect of the game began to dominate and a nasty foul on McCann which led to the Saints player leaving the pitch for treatment by Max Christie of Alloa went unpunished and Keigan picked up a booking for dissent. Even worse was the ref's decision to keep McCann waiting 2-3 minutes before allowing him onto the park. It didn't affect things too much with the only action being a Chris Hay header which was saved. Christie got his comeuppance though and a yellow card 3 minutes from the interval.
We had one more chance before the break when a Main clearance found Keigan whose cross was just headed wide by Maxwell.
The second-half started much, much more brightly for Saints with the long-awaited miracle. 3 minutes gone and Hay broke on the left wing and sent a cross to the far post. McCann was unmarked but facing away from goal. He still managed to control the ball brilliantly and sent a flick back over the Alloa keeper and towards the goal. It might have gone in on it's own accord but with the ball only a couple of inches out Paddy got his head to it and made sure the score went to 2-1. To say he looked happy was an understatement.
Saints began to settle after that and a couple of minutes later another Hay break on the left saw him cut the ball into the box only for McCann to screw his shot wide. The ref was still keen to get in on the act though and Reilly picked up a yellow for a daft foul. And just in case we didn't believe the miracle of Paddy's goal, Keigan's run in 59 minutes saw his cross into the box half-cleared by the Alloa defence to Paddy on the edge of the area only for the man to trip over the ball. Still we won a free-kick from that and despite JR's effort being blocked, Reilly's effort went just over.
Maxwell picked up the next yellow for a nothing foul whilst the Alloa no 9 escaped punishment for a nasty late challenge on Grant Murray. At this time the ref was just spoiling the game, blowing for any minor infringement and totally forgetting about the advantage rule. Still Gregg Watson finally picked up a well-deserved yellow for dissent after a foul on the near side. JR's free kick into the box saw Dods header the ball into orbit though.
But Saints were starting to dominate now. Hay had a great run in 68 mins but his chip was saved. But a minute later he went one better. After some good work by Paddy in the middle, Hay was set up on the edge of the box and managed to beat 4 defenders before sending a great curling shot past the keeper to make it 3-1.
That was really game over and we should have increased the lead a minute later when McCann ran through the middle but his shot was brilliantly tipped over. Ryan the Rocket came on for Paddy for the last 15 minutes but instead of Alloa tiring they mounted some dangerous attacks. Saints had some decent attacks themselves and looked more dangerous. Maxwell and the Rocket combined well and Hay also had a good run with the Rocket only for his cross to be blocked. Even when the crosses went in it seemed the scoring luck had gone - McCann had a good chance headed wide. Ferry replaced Keigan for the last 5 minutes or so but Stevenson had the last word with a break from the left ending in a shot being saved.
MoM was difficult but Hay's scoring form and the hard shift he put in just edges it from McCann and Maxwell. If we had weak points today then Murray doesn't look comfortable in the centre of a 4-man defence and JR didn't really start to create any attacks until the end. But these are minor points, it was a good team performance for a change.
And by God it was good to see Paddy score as well!!!!
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| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Points |
| Falkirk | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 12 | 27 |
| Caley Thistle | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 9 | 25 |
| Saints | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 6 | 21 |
| Clyde | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 19 |
| Ayr United | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 15 |
| Ross County | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 13 | 13 |
| St Mirren | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 26 | 13 |
| Queen of the South | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 12 |
| Arbroath | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 20 | 9 |
| Alloa | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 25 | 8 |
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