ALLOA ATHLETIC

Alloa boss Andy Graham on 'uncharacteristic' Montrose loss

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Alloa's defending at Montrose was "uncharacteristic" but their attitude in trying to salvage a draw was praised by their manager.

Andy Graham's side lost their second successive League One fixture in front of the BBC Alba TV cameras on Saturday, going down by the odd-goal-in-nine at Links Park.

The Wasps, who remain third in the table and in pole position to secure a place in the end-of-season promotion play-offs, had led 2-0 thanks to a double from Callum Burnside, who went on to complete his first professional hat-trick.

However, Stewart Petrie's Mo roared back to level before half-time, and then take a 5-2 lead into the final 10 minutes, when Luke Donnelly and Burnside netted to set up a grandstand finish.

Alloa have lost two games in a row since defeating Kelty Hearts in their last home fixture. (Image: David Wardle.)

Their refusal to accept defeat pleased Graham, but he was disappointed with the nature of goals that Alloa conceded.

"If they go and cut you open with some really good football, then I'm the first one to go, do you know what, that's a good goal," he said.

"Sometimes in football you can't just moan about everything. You can't lament poor defending when sometimes the opposition's done something really, really good, and really special.

"They (Montrose) didn't do that. The first one, one cross-field pass takes us out. We get caught under the ball, and then it's a good ball in, and they've scored from there, but they should be shut down initially.

"Then, the second goal, is a second phase set play, and there should never be a player six yards out with a free header.

"Again, the third goal was the same thing. It's a player six yards out who's got time to take a touch. That's just not good enough really, is it?

"The fourth, it happens so quickly.

"We go 3-2 (behind) and, before we get another chance to decide, right, okay, how are we going to get back into the game, it was 4-2. We lost a goal within a minute, and I think that's where we had to be a little bit stronger.

Andy Graham was disappointed with his team's defending at Montrose, but praised their attitude in scoring twice from 5-2 down to set up a grandstand finish. (Image: David Wardle.)

"And, again, I got things wrong. I look at it and I'm always one to look at myself.

"Fair play to Stewart Petrie (the Montrose manager). When he went two up front, after 57 minutes, I thought for the next kind of seven, eight minutes they were the better team, and I should probably have changed it at that point, and went to a back three ourselves.

"I was just hoping that, in the wide areas, we could really hurt them, but it wasn't to be, and once it goes 4-2, I'm not going to make a defensive change at that point.

"I just felt that if we can get the ball into our wide areas, we can still hurt them, and obviously the fifth's just a really poor mistake, and it's something that's so uncharacteristic of us all season.

"We've not been doing that at all.

"It was frustrating, but what I love about the players is, at 5-2, you're away to Montrose, they still go and get themselves back in the game.

"We're a penalty decision away from getting a five each draw, in all honesty, which is an incredible mentality from the boys, to go and get themselves back in the game, and push it really close."

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