Managers post Alloa Athletic
Saturday, 28th Dec 201928/12/19: link to audio of both managers post match comments
- - Listen to this Stevie Crawford interview
Manager Stevie Crawford said that he was very disappointed with the result against Alloa Athletic.
“I thought for the opening twenty minutes we were very good. Jamie Macdonald has pulled off a couple of really good saves in the early parts. We score a good goal and then right from the kick off concede a corner kick too easily. We should have done better from the resultant corner.
“Having watched the second goal back, for as much as it is a poor clearance from us, it ricochets to Kevin O’Hara and he was offside when the ball comes off him. It is disappointing when you see that.
“It gave Alloa something to hold on to and they got a lot of men behind the ball. We probably didn’t get in enough crosses in the second part of the first half to cause them more problems.
“I didn’t see too much wrong with the first half performance. Second half there was a ten minute spell when it wasn’t good enough. That resulted in us trying to make some positive changes bringing on Anthony McDonald and putting Greg Kiltie in off the strikers and introducing Lewis McCann and Matty Todd.
“We are conceding too many goals at the moment and that is the thing that we are going to have to address.”
Asked if Greg Kiltie had a legitimate shout for a penalty early in the second half, Stevie said that he had not had a chance to watch that one back.
“The disappointment from today is from the goals that we have conceded. I thought that we were really lively for the first twenty minutes. We should have been more ahead, we weren’t and they say that you are at your most vulnerable when you have first scored and they have punished us.
“We are disappointed but it is stuff that we can work on, try and address and get better at over the next few weeks.”
Do you put it down to a nervousness?
“The first goal we could have done better. We have to have a mentality to deal with the set play better. As I said it ricocheted off them and he was standing in an offside position. There is nothing much you can do in regards to that one.
“The third goal came from a Jamie Macdonald kick and Kevin Nisbet was trying to fill in for Greg Kiltie at that point. He finds himself trailing back to his own box and tackles like strikers do. We shouldn’t find Kevin having to run all the way back there anyway. But it is things that we can work on.
“I am extremely disappointed. We had managed to get ourselves into the play off positions and the opportunity today, after a really really good start to the game, would have got us up into the play offs at the end of the night but we are not. We have to look at things and address things.”
Asked if there was any clarity about the two on loan Hearts players and Greg Kiltie from a Kilmarnock perspective?
“We will have to communicate with the parent clubs and see where we are at with them. If they get called back it is something that we will have to deal with. We are actively trying to make sure, if that case scenario happens, that we can look at other options in the January window. Until that decision is made then we just have to get on with things.
“The January window is not easy. As I say it will depend on the parent clubs and there have been managerial changes at those clubs and they will be assessing what squads they have got. It is not really getting too focused on that, yes we will make sure that we are doing our homework on what situations may arise but we are more disappointed with today’s result in terms of an opportunity missed to climb this league.”
What will you do to address those defensive issues?
“Work hard on Monday morning. It is interesting, you might have been in the changing room there and just heard what I said. That is exactly what I have said. In the last three games we have conceded nine goals and I have said that I want us to be an attacking threat.
“To be an attacking threat can sometimes leave you a bit vulnerable at the back but I didn’t think today that was the cause. We lost two bad goals and lost out to a decision that didn’t go our way today.”
- - Hear the thoughts of Alloa’s Peter Grant
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