Stags Crash in Alloa Defeat

It was back to league action last Saturday as the Stags made the short trip to Alloa. Injuries and unavailability resulted in several changes from the previous week with starts for Stirling, Keighan, Binnie, Hendry, Roach and Gemmell. Alloa were fast out of the blocks and opened the scoring after just 2 minutes. They took a quick tap penalty in midfield and worked through the phases before going wide for an unconverted score in the corner. Straight from the kick off a missed tackle resulted in a 40 metre run upfield to take play back inside the Stags 22. Grangemouth looked to have survived this attack but an attempted clearing kick was charged down and the ball fell nicely for a home player to run in under the posts. Grangemouth tried to respond and with their first bit of territory were awarded a penalty 30 metres out. Skelton was on target with the kick to make the score 12-3. However Alloa were immediately back on the attack and after a further spell of pressure they opened up the Stags defence again for a converted score. The home side secured the bonus point after just 25 minutes. Once again an initial missed tackle saw Alloa back on the attack. The ball was again moved wide for the home winger to score in the corner. Grangemouth made several changes and had a spell of pressure inside the Alloa 22. A combination of good defence from the home team and poor execution by the Stags prevented any further scores before the interval. HT Alloa 24 Stags 3

Grangemouth started the second half well. Dempsey had a good run and Gemmell was halted by a last gasp tackle. On 60 minutes Hind picked up from a 5 metre scrum and was unlucky to be bundled into touch just short of the line. Alloa took a quick lineout and kicked downfield. The chase was good and the ball was turned over deep in Grangemouth territory. Simple hands created the overlap for a score in the corner. The Stags tried to respond and took play into the Alloa 22. They secured a lineout and the forwards drove over the line with Binnie collecting the touchdown. Skelton was wide with the conversion attempt. Alloa quickly restored their advantage. They regained possession from the kick off and good hands resulted in an unconverted score in the corner. The closing 5 minutes saw Alloa run in 3 further trys from deep to complete an emphatic victory. FT Alloa 55 Stags 8

This was a very poor performance from the Stags. They were outplayed by a well organised and drilled Alloa side. Grangemouth certainly did not help themselves with poor lineouts, turnovers, numerous missed tackles, handling errors and poor kicking. The coaches and players have a lot of work to do before the next match. This week the Stags do not have a a fixture. The next game is on 30 September when Aberdeen Wanderers are the visitors to Glensburgh. KO is 3pm.