7th Sep 2024 Partick Thistle 1 Alloa Athletic 3 (Challenge Cup 3rd Round)

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matches:2024-25: ← 09game 1011 →

37y, 8m, 27d	Kris Doolan	Andy Graham

Charlie Sayers
Daniel O'Reilly

Brian Graham (1-0, 14 mins)		Kevin Cawley (1-1, 65‎ mins); Kevin Cawley (1-2, 76 mins); Scott Taggart (1-3, pens 90‎+‎5 mins)
Harry Milne (1-0, 14 mins)		Steven Buchanan (1-1, 65‎ mins); Luke Donnelly (1-2, 76 mins); none (1-3, pens 90‎+‎5 mins)
Charlie Sayers		Calum Waters; Miko Virtanen; Shay Nevans

James Lyon (Zander MacKenzie, 52 mins); Logan Chalmers (Terry Ablade, 70 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Ben Stanway, 84 mins); Kyle Turner (Ricco Diack, 84 mins)		Conor Sammon (Cameron O'Donnell, 62 mins); Luke Donnelly (Shay Nevans, 89 mins); Kevin Cawley (Kane Thomson, 89 mins)

22y, 8m, 29d	Myles Roberts	Tochukwu Ogayi
20y, 9m, 12d	Casper Nilsson	Scott Taggart
27y, 10m, 9d	Harry Milne	Calum Waters
24y, 11m, 29d	Luke McBeth	David McKay
20y, 5m, 9d	Charlie Sayers	Morgyn Neill
31y, 11m, 21d	Stuart Bannigan	Steven Hetherington
26y, 9m, 28d	Kyle Turner	Miko Virtanen
24y, 5m, 14d	Logan Chalmers	Steven Buchanan
36y, 9m, 15d	Brian Graham	Conor Sammon former Jag
21y, 10m, 11d	James Lyon	Luke Donnelly
23y, 5m, 18d	Aidan Fitzpatrick	Kevin Cawley

25y, 7m, 26d

21y, 6m, 2d	Mason McCready	Peter Morrison
24y, 5m, 6d	Wasiri Williams	Andy Graham
34y, 0m, 8d	Aaron Muirhead	Shay Nevans
30y, 2m, 16d	Robbie Crawford	Kane Thomson
20y, 10m, 10d	Liam Smith	Cameron O'Donnell
22y, 10m, 26d	Terry Ablade	Reece Mullen
19y, 11m, 18d	Ben Stanway
19y, 0m, 10d	Zander MacKenzie
19y, 4m, 0d	Ricco Diack

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Alloa filled only 6 of their 9 allocated bench slots.

TTA report

All-black Thistle seemed drained in the sunshine, and it was the part-timers in white who went from strength to strength the longer this game went on. A Milne cross was headed in by Graham (14) but rather than press home that advantage, Thistle were too pedestrian and lacked ideas. A cross and diving header (65 mins) equalised matters. Passive Thistle defending led to a strike for the lead (76) before an injury time penalty (stonewall concession by Milne, 90+5) completed the misery. A real confidence-basher.

TTA man of the match

By default RICCO DIACK gets the nod as he was immune to the general malaise and prowled menacingly for the several minutes he was on. Was involved in a number of attacks, one of which nearly forced an equaliser.

Media report

Chris Faulds, 08-Sep-2024, Alloa Advertiser

KEVIN CAWLEY shone as Alloa booked themselves a spot in the fourth round of the SPFL Trust Trophy, beating Partick Thistle 3-1. The Alloa stalwart got himself on the scoresheet twice during the Wasps’ victory over Partick, with Scott Taggart adding a third to kill the game off. Two changes were made by Andy Graham ahead of this game – Tochukwu Ogayi slotted in between the sticks, giving PJ Morrison a rest, while Luke Donnelly replaced the injured Stefan Scougall. For Thistle, Charlie Sayers came in for Daniel O'Reilly who was serving a long-standing tournament-specific suspension. A slow start proved costly for Alloa, as Partick’s Brian Graham fired his side ahead with a strong header inside 14 minutes. However, losing an early goal seemed to galvanise the visitors, who played much better from that moment onwards despite being behind. The Wasps had a golden opportunity to equalise just minutes after, Luke Donnelly rising high to catch onto a good ball from Calum Waters – his header bounced off the post. Scott Taggart looked to replicate his stunning goal against Dumbarton with an effort from 35 yards out, but his well taken shot is just wide of the mark. Alloa did well to contain Thistle from adding to their lead, which could have ended the game early, going into the break.

Coming out the break, both teams looked completely different – Alloa came out the traps looking to hurt Thistle, while the hosts fell apart. Steven Buchanan, who had a decent first half showing down the right hand side, entered into an entertaining battle against Thistle’s Harry Milne. The youngster fully came out on top, proving to be one of Alloa’s liveliest outlets in both halves and played a key role in Alloa’s first and third goals. Buchanan got the better of Milne just past the hour mark to send a cross into the box, it soared past Donnelly but found the waiting Cawley, whose sublime diving header found the back of the net to draw things level. Buchanan continued to torment Milne down the channel, sending another good cross in that was unfortunately blocked and cleared by Thistle. Ogayi took full advantage of his opportunity in the cup, making a good stop against Terry Ablade after the forward went one-on-one with Alloa’s keeper. Taggart stood over a free kick whipped into the box, kept in the area by Morgyn Neill – Donnelly gets the ball down and flicks it behind him for Cawley who strikes the ball cleanly into the Thistle net to give Alloa a deserved lead.

Concerns over recent weeks had been lodged about where Alloa’s goals were coming from and the loan market. The result against Thistle – a Championship team – may do well to quell those concerns for the time being, with Cawley’s brace being his third and fourth goals of the season. Taggart would go onto add a third after Buchanan was brought down in the box, with the Wasps captain converting the awarded penalty during the last kick of the game.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan (speaking to Jagzone):

We were better in the first half, but in the second half we just lost everything, we lost our shape, our patterns of play, we never put anything together. I changed the shape to try and get us back into the game, because their tails were up. I know if I put two strikers on it's going to open up the middle, and we have to take a bit of a risk at home I suppose, and I'll put my hands up to that, but I felt as if it was worth the gamble at that point, but I thought in the second half we looked vulnerable from start to finish. We were giving the ball away, we didn't press the ball well enough with any real intensity. I would never criticise footballers' effort, I think they always try, things don't go your way, I get it, but what we can't have is a full team that's like that, it ripples through everybody. I think there's got to be an apology from me, from us, to the supporters because what they witnessed in the second half is nowhere near good enough. We have to rectify this quickly this week because we need to be ready for Ayr United.

Alloa manager Andy Graham:

I actually thought we were good in the first half once Thistle scored. Losing the goal probably took a bit of pressure off the players – it happens a lot in football, once the players concede, all of a sudden they start to play. I thought we did that in the first half without having a real cutting edge – we were unlucky with the header that hits the post. I thought the second half I thought we were really good – everything we were looking for in terms of energy and quality. I thought we had some really good moves – the first goal is excellent and it sums up the way that we played today. I’m delighted for the players, they work so hard and don’t get the credit they deserve for how good they are on the ball and that was an opportunity for them to showcase that today and they certainly did it. Thistle are a really good side and for us to go and win the way we played today, we didn’t just score three goals and smash and grab it. We deserved to win which was a credit to the players and they way they applied themselves.

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