Mad Moore says sorry to fans

Dec 23 2008

STIRLING Albion manager Allan Moore was an angry man after his side crashed to a 3-0 home defeat to Queen’s Park on Saturday.

The Binos had gone into the match on the back of a 1-0 win at East Fife and were looking to boost their play-off aspirations in the final home fixture of 2008 but instead were completely outplayed by the Hampden-based club.

To make matters worse, East Fife and Peterhead both recorded comfortable victories to leave Albion six points adrift of the promotion play-offs and only two ahead of second-bottom Alloa, who got the better of Brechin.

Stirling’s campaign reaches the halfway stage at bogey team Arbroath on Saturday, when Moore can only pray his players produce a better showing against John McGlashan’s men, who won 2-0 at Forthbank in November.

Like Queen’s Park, Arbroath are just a point behind Albion in the Irn-Bru Second Division but their winning streak came to an end when they went down 2-1 at Raith Rovers on Saturday.

Moore could hardly believe his team had performed so poorly at the weekend, going down to first-half goals from Jamie Brough and Ryan Holms and a late counter from Adam Coakley. John O’Neill hit the top of the bar with a penalty just after the visitors had taken the lead.

He said: “I’m raging but Queen’s Park deserved it. From the first pass we didn’t find a red jersey and it’s so frustrating because we have gone from playing so well at East Fife and creating numerous chances to that performance.

“It’s Jekyll and Hyde and there are no excuses for it. I apologise to the fans because they have every right to shout at us after that. They pay good money to come and watch and the first 45 minutes is probably the worst we have given them this season.

“To be honest, Queen’s Park gave us a bit of a doing. They looked fitter and sharper and passed the ball better. It’s not often you would say a team ran us off the park but I think they did that on Saturday.

“If the penalty goes in it gets us back in it right after they had taken the lead but even at that stage we were not playing well. John knows himself that he should have done better. There was a wee bit of an argument between him and Stewart Devine over who should take it but John was confident.”

O’Neill was withdrawn at the interval, along with Craig Molloy and Mark Docherty, with Liam Corr, Chris Hamilton and Steven Waddell coming on. Hamilton did at least give Albion some width on the right wing.

But Moore, who was again without Ross Forsyth, Andy Graham and Nathan Taggart, said: “Not one of the players got a pass mark. The subs flattered to deceive when they came on and we missed a few chances. When you don’t score goals that puts you under pressure.

“Big Martin Grehan and David McKenna have formed a good partnership recently. Martin missed out because of illness but one player isn’t going to make a team.

“We got ourselves into a position last week to push for fourth place and maybe that was on their minds but that was a disgraceful performance. We keep giving away soft goals but never seem to score any like that ourselves.

“The first one was just a nothing cross into the box which Scott shouted for and missed and the second came from a bad pass across the middle of the park. The third was when we were pushing forward and got caught on the break.”

Queen’s Park boss Gardner Speirs was thrilled to see his side end a poor run of just one win in nine league games with such a convincing victory.

He said: “We are delighted to win and I thought our performance merited that, which is the most pleasing thing.

“Our start was excellent. We have had a tendency to lose a goal early in the game but we have been working on getting on the front foot and our pressing in the first half was first class.”

Midfielder Craig Molloy has returned to St Mirren following the expiry of his three-month loan deal. Boss Allan Moore had been keen to extend his stay but Scottish Football League rules state that the maximum term for an emergency loan like the Molloy deal is 93 days and that period is now up.

The 22-year-old, who also had a spell on loan last season, made his debut in the 1-1 draw at Raith on September 20 and played 11 league games, scoring two goals in the 3-2 win over Stranraer on November 1. Molloy also netted in the 3-2 Scottish Cup defeat to Partick Thistle at the end of last month.