Tuesday 28 February 2006
| Alloa 2 - 1 Thistle
Written by Neil Martin |
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| Tuesday, 28 February 2006 | |
| Thistle crashed to a 2-1 defeat at bottom club Alloa tonight after an abject display that made the Thistle fans present at a bitterly cold Recreation Park wonder if this was the same group of players who had performed so well at Tynecastle only three days earlier.Dick Campbell made a couple of changes to the team that had lined up against Hearts, with David Craig replacing Mark Smyth in central defence and Dymitro Pronevych making his debut in midfield, with a few positional changes that resulted in Billy Gibson in right midfield and Mark Roberts moved up front in place of Paul Ritchie, who dropped onto the bench.
In an early warning to Thistle, Ross Hamilton was able to break clear of the Jags defence inside the first few minutes but his shot was unable to trouble Kenny Arthur. This warning was clearly not heeded, as after 8 minutes Hamilton again ran at the defence, only this time he was able to easily beat Sandy Hodge down the Thistle left and shoot low underneath Arthur to score, with a shot that Kenny will probably feel he should have done better with. Thistle initially responded to the shock of going behind with some attacking of their own, albeit with varying degrees of failure. Steven McConalogue glanced a header straight at Creer in the Alloa goal, before a scramble in the area resulted in the ball somehow hitting the bar and bouncing out. After 25 minutes, an even better chance was missed by Billy Gibson. A Pronevych free kick found him arriving in the penalty area, but from only a few yards out the Jags midfielder was only able to put the ball over the bar. Shortly after, the home team punished Thistle for their missed chances by doubling their lead. Poor defending on the edge of their own area allowed Graeme Brown to find space to shoot, and his excellent finish found the right hand corner of the net, as Thistle again found themselves two goals behind against the Wasps. A repeat of the comeback at Firhill that eventually produced a 4-3 win did seem a possibility when McConalogue reduced the deficit after 37 minutes. A Hodge cross from the left evaded the Alloa defence to reach the Jags striker at the back post, and a low volley was sent past Creer to send Thistle in at half-time trailing by one goal. Half-time arrived with biting winds sweeping across the ground, as empty Bovril cups blew across the desolate plains of terracing like tumbleweed. If the Thistle fans had been told what was about to be inflicted upon them in terms of a second 45 minutes of football, this Tuesday night freeze-out (© B. Springsteen) would surely have been abandoned in favour of warm cars and buses. Pronevych was substituted at half-time, having failed to make any real impact on the game and having already been booked. He was replaced by Paul Ritchie, who joined McConalogue up front. Thistle did manage a couple of efforts in the early stages if the second half, with a Billy Gibson volley from the right hand angle of the area going wide of the near post, and an Adam Strachan corner after 60 minutes which found Ritchie at the near post, although he was unable to get the right connection to get his header on target. This was effectively the last that was seen of Thistle as any sort of coherent attacking force, as the game descended to a level that any mediocre teams would be truly insulted to be compared to. Jamie Stevenson – once of Real Mallorca – had three efforts on goal for Alloa, and although they all went over the bar, at least he was the one player on the pitch who seemed able to control the ball and then come up with at least an outline of an idea of what to do with it. Campbell introduced Jose Quitongo, only recently released by Alloa, to no effect, and withdrew Roberts for Darren Brady in a substitution that made absolutely no sense unless Roberts had picked up an injury. Having said that, Roberts had a poor game, along with almost everyone else in red and yellow. As the match crawled towards what by now looked like the inevitable conclusion, both teams managed to force a couple of corners, although by this stage it was apparent that Budweiser’s ‘extra time multi-ball’ could have been introduced and it still would have failed to produce another goal. As the final whistle finally sounded, a few token boos from the away fans were almost drowned out in the rush to return to anywhere that would allow them to defrost. The conditions the game was played in (high winds and a hard pitch) certainly did not help the players and were not conducive to free-flowing football, but that does not account for the ineptitude of this Thistle display. Alloa adapted better that Thistle and deserved their win, and provided their manager Allan Maitland with what was doubtless yet another satisfying victory for him over Thistle. A cup hangover? Maybe, but that was also said about the Peterhead game and while that may be just about excusable once, it definitely was not tonight. Stirling Albion and Peterhead are both appearing closer on the play-off horizon, and any repeats of this performance will result in even making the play-offs, never mind winning them, a serious doubt. Man of the match:
STATS Attendance: 675
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