NOT even the appointment of a new manager could arrest Partick Thistle’s miserable start to life in the Championship. Gary Caldwell may well go on to enjoy a long career at Firhill but in years to come he will not look back on his first outing in the dug-out with any great fondness.
In the bijou surrounds of Alloa Athletic’s Indodrill Stadium, Caldwell watched on as his new charges stumbled to their seventh league defeat of the season, a result that draws them closer to the play-offs at the foot of the table rather than the ones they covet towards the top.
Thistle enjoyed plenty of possession, in the second half especially, but didn’t do enough to put Neil Parry in the home goal under any sustained pressure. The second-half arrival of Souleymane Coulibaly, finally freed from FIFA red tape, gave the visitors some additional late impetus but Alloa held on to record their first league win of the season.
It was not the start Caldwell would have envisioned but he was not overly despondent at how his team played.
“The result was very disappointing, but the performance was good for large periods,” he said. “There are fine margins that need to be right if you want to win games.
“In the first half we had good possession without really hurting them and that’s really an understanding of how we attack. Our positional play needs to be better. On the final pass, we need a bit more composure, but that will come from hard work on the training pitch.
“After the goal went in we looked on the ropes for about five minutes but the reaction after that was excellent.
“We played on the front foot, we kept going. We gambled in terms of the formation and the personnel we put on the pitch.”
The mood was understandably brighter in the Alloa camp. Dario Zanatta’s goal five minutes in the second half would prove the match winner – the on-loan Hearts player zipping a shot past Cammy Bell after some exquisite control – although he was unfortunate not to add a second when Bell saved well with his legs.
Jim Goodwin could barely keep the smile off his face as he savoured a first victory. “It was well documented that we didn’t have a league win up until today so I’m delighted for the players to get that monkey off their back,” said the Alloa manager.
“They have been working ever so hard. The players showed great resilience. We expected Partick Thistle to have a lot of possession because they’re a good side with a lot of players who have Premiership experience.
“They dominated the majority of the second half but my goalkeeper hasn’t had many saves to make."
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