Experience wins the day as Falkirk two go off

ALLOA ATHLETIC 3 - FALKIRK 2. ALLOA v Falkirk might not have been the sort of local derby to set pulses racing in the same way as other, more famous, derbies. Until yesterday, that is. Here was a match that didn't so much set the pulse racing as the blood curdling, with the game unravelling following an unexpected twist of an Alloa equaliser to cancel out Falkirk's early lead.

That equaliser, a lob by Ian Little, six minutes into the second half, turned the game on its head and set up a second half that had everything - including four goals and two red cards - but mainly entertainment.

It had started looking like it would be as one-sided an affair as a Scotland v Australia friendly, which seemed only reasonable given that Falkirk sit proudly at the top of the league with the home side third bottom. And, in the opening minutes, Alloa really were as bad as Scotland, even if Falkirk didn't quite match the Aussies.

With Terry Christie's Alloa seemingly content to confine themselves to their own half, Falkirk took a deserved lead after just 10 minutes. An Andrew Lawrie cross from the right was met by David Nicholls, who, with Max Christie as close company, managed to slide in to meet the ball and nudge it into the net.

Alloa's breaks, usually led by Colin Nish, looked increasingly threatening as the first half drew to a close, but Falkirk really should have added to that solitary goal. In the closing minutes of that first period they lost Greg Denham to a twisted knee, an injury that Bairns' boss Alex Totten later called a "real blow" and an explanation for their subsequent loss of rhythm. Later on, two red cards can't have helped much either.

But the game was all the more entertaining for the league leaders' collapse and the second half can only be described as a cracker.

After Little's inch-perfect lob to equalise, the football match became a battle, with the experienced old warhorses of Alloa engaged in a frantic affair with Falkirk's skillful young bucks. And there was no question that experience was winning the day.

This was summed up with Alloa's third goal, when the skillful Mark Kerr was brought down by Little 20 yards from the Alloa goal. No foul was given and Little darted forward before threading a ball through the middle to Ross Hamilton, whose run, evading several lunges on the way, ended with him nudging the ball past Myles Hogarth with the outside of his right foot.

Recreation Park erupted and the Wasps were buzzing. Tempers were also starting to fray and a spectator's comment - "Somebody's going to get sent off" - proved prescient only one minute after it was uttered.

Nicholls was first to go, for some retaliation after a booking. Seven minutes later, though, the 10 men were rewarded for a period of dogged persistence. Predictably, it was Kerr who made the difference. His shot struck a defender and was pounced upon by Steven Craig whose effort hit the goalkeeper but sneaked in.

By now it was a matter of catching your breath between incidents, many of them controversial and most of them involving the referee. Within two minutes of the equal-iser another red card was flashed, this time to a puzzled looking Kevin Christie for an innocuous foul on the edge of the box.

Falkirk's nine men still pressed forward, but they were punished with two minutes left when a corner was nodded in by Frank Conway.

It didn't seem possible that a crowd of just over 1000 could create such an electric atmosphere. In the post-match analysis, Terry Christie hailed this as the performance of the season for his team of part-timers. Few would argue with that.

Copyright 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.