Stranraer 4-2 Alloa Athletic - Tennents Scottish Cup 2nd Round, Saturday 18th November 2006

Match report by GL, Match pictures provided by Glenn Coulter, LBIPP of....

Stranraer faced Alloa Athletic in one of the most controversial cup ties seen at stair Park for many years.  Stranraer named a strong line-up which saw Michael Moore back in the squad as his nine match League ban does not apply to Scottish Cup games, his return though only got him a seat on the bench. 

Stranraer got off to yet another slow start as Alloa went straight at Stranraer, as early as the first minute the home side were under threat as Robert Sloan crossed from the right to Javier Payo who’s headed effort was dynamically saved by Scott Black as the ball rebounded off the cross bar and out.  Only seven minutes later the blues were in trouble again and this time they could do little about it as the ball was played out wide to John Grant who was allowed space to cross the ball to Kieron McAnespie to fire the ball in past Scott Black putting the visitors a goal ahead. 

Alloa were trying hard to put the game out of reach early on, having the lions share of possession and on ten minutes they went close again as Robert Sloan squared the ball from the left to Payo who made room for himself to unleash a powerful shot but Scott Black dived quickly and made a good save. 

It took 17 minutes for Stranraer to record their first attempt on goal when a Mark Crilly free-kick found David Hamilton, his header hit the side netting.  On 24 minutes, Chris McGroarty whom was not having his best game in a blue shirt passed the ball from the left to Lee Sharp whom was not in a safe position, he was dispossessed and the ball played to Payo who fired in a screaming shot, his effort clattered Stranraer’s right hand post and slipped out. 

On 36 minutes Stranraer were pressing further forward and Allan Creer was called into action as Paul McMullan on the left hand side, crossed the ball to Kenny Wright, his instant shot was well saved by the keeper.  Four minutes later though there was little Creer could do as Stranraer equalised, Alloa could not clear the ball from their defence and the ball bounced towards David Hamilton on the right hand side, about five yards from the joint of the Alloa box, Hamilton then lifted a beautiful first time volley that went up, over and beyond Creer despite him being at full stretch, he got nowhere near it and the ball dipped nicely into the corner of the net. 

As the first half was drawing to a close Scott Wilson went into a hearty challenge with Alloa’s Davie McClune but seemed to leave a trailing arm behind, Wilson got up to continue play but he was lashed out at in a two footed kick and referee Euan Norris was left with no choice but to sent McClune off.  That was near enough the last action of the half and as the half time whistle went, Blues fans would have been buoyed by their teams fortune in being a man up. 

As the second half commenced with Stranraer attacking their preferred ‘Toon end’ with Alloa adapting a 4-1-3-1 line up, Stranraer countered by bringing on Striker, Michael Moore on 53 minutes and this had an immediate impact as you could see the team lift and Alloa’s defence immediately seemed to struggle when the ball was played to the towering striker. On the hour marker Alloa were under pressure again as the ball was played forward by Stranraer, the play was then switched in-field to Mark Crilly who immediately played the ball further left to Paul McMullan in seemingly acres of space, he struck a superb first time shot with the ball always curling away from Creer and the ball hit the top left hand corner. 2-1 Blues!  T

he lead was to only last for ten minutes as a spirited Alloa fight-back  saw them break down their right and in a similar move to Stranraer’s second goal the ball was squared to McAnespie who fired past Black to level the scores at 2-2. Alloa’s luck at this point ran out when on 76 minutes Stuart Malcolm was sent off for a second yellow card and they were already stretched at the back at this point with Michael Moore causing them numerous problems, the loss of Malcolm seemed to confound that. 

On 81 minutes after a period of sustained Stranraer pressure, the blues managed to edge themselves back in front again when a corner kick was floated in to the near post, where defender Scott Wilson rose majestically from the pack and nodded the ball in to the delight of the home support, Alloa’s players heads seemed to visibly drop at this point but they tried to re-group but the spaces were starting to take their toll. On 83 minutes it was all but game over as in a superb move from Stranraer Scott Black kicked a long range goal kick which was received by Michael Moore, he then chipped a defence splitting ball over the remains of the Alloa back-line for the speeding Stephen Nicholas who received the ball on the right hand side and struck a superb shot across the Alloa goal and the ball clipped the left hand post and into the back of the net which saw Nicholas curl away in delight as he celebrated with his current team mates having just put the final nail in the coffin of his former colleagues. 

As the final whistle was blown Stranraer celebrated as they could now look forward to a home second round tie against Forfar in early December.  After the game, Blues Manager Gerry Britton was delighted.  “Well that game had everything didn’t it, it was a great cup tie.  We’re delighted, sometimes it’s not easy to play against ten men, then nine but we did our jobs and some of the finishing today was excellent.  My only criticism is that there were wee periods of the game where we were not switched on and again we seemed to take a while to get out of the blocks.” 

Stranraer:

Black, McGroaty, Sharp, Snowdon, Wilson, Crilly, Aitken (Hunter 86), Hamilton, Wright, Burns (Moore 53), McMullan. Subs Not Used: Nicholas, Ramsay, Morrison.  

Booked: Aitken, Wilson.  - Goals: Hamilton 40, McMullan 59, Wilson 79, Nicholas 82.  

Alloa Athletic: Creer, Clark, Ovenstone, Malcolm, McClune, McColligan, Grant, Sloan, Brown, Payo (Young 76), McAnespie. Subs Not Used: Hamilton, Comrie, Stuart, O'Boyle.  S

ent Off: McClune (44), Malcolm (75).

Booked: Malcolm. Goals: McAnespie 8, 71.  

Att: 272  Ref: E Norris