THE remarkable Alloa story took another fantastic twist when they scored directly from a corner to hit the lofty heights of sixth place in the Ladbrokes Championship table.
Four straight wins – the greatest second-tier run in their history – has given the fans complete belief that they will survive – and who can blame them? One more victory will probably be enough to allow the
division’s only part-time side to look forward to another season in the Championship.
You have to hand it to Jim
Goodwin and his side, even if Steven Hetherington’s decisive moment 14 minutes from time was more than a little fortuitous.
Goodwin said: “We worked hard on the winning goal in training! Listen, the conditions were difficult. Actually, as it left Stevie’s boot,
I thought it was going over the bar.
I thought it was a poor corner. But you get your luck at times. We’ve certainly had some bad luck this season so maybe we deserved it.
“We’ve played a hell of a lot better than that and lost.
“That’s as bad a performance as we have had in terms of possession but in terms of resilience, stout defending and big Neil [Parry] making saves we did well. It wasn’t pretty but we managed to get the result.
“I’m really pleased for the boys because that’s the first time in the club’s history that we have won four games in a row in the second tier. It’s another terrific achievement for the lads.”
Alloa were battered in more ways than one as Queen of the South
dominated for long spells and Lyndon Dykes’ elbow left Andy Graham with a broken nose that required hospital treatment.
Godwin added: “Andy is an
absolute warrior. He plays through so many injuries and knocks that people wouldn’t believe me.
“He’s got a hole in his calf that’s about an inch wide by an inch deep. He needed seven stiches up at
Inverness but we had to take them out because it became infected.
“He’s got a broken nose now. He’s had all sorts of problems but he is never willing to throw in the towel and he typifies everything about us as a club in terms of character and shows how desperate we all are to stay in the league.”
Alloa were actually the better side early on and Jack Aitchison hit the Queens post in 19 minutes.
Howver, Queens should have scored in 34 minutes when an unlikely slip from Graham let
Lyndon Dykes in for a clear run at goal but he shot too close to Neil Parry who made a fine save with his left boot.
It enlivened Queens and they forced a tremendous double save out of Parry two minutes later when he denied Dykes and then Scott Mercer.
The Palmerston side dominated the second half but Alloa won it with that Hetherington corner that left Gary Naysmith spitting blood.
He said: “To lose a goal straight from a corner at any level is inexcusable.
“If my son’s team did something like that on a Sunday morning,
I would be disappointed.
“When you’re fighting for your lives and you let the ball go straight into your net from a corner – I can’t defend that.
“I feel like we have been robbed. We were in total control of the game but if somebody doesn’t step up to the plate then we’re not going to win points.
“We created enough chance to win two games.
“Jim Goodwin came over after and admitted that it’s twice that Alloa have done it to us this season.
“It was a fight before but this result doesn’t help us.”
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