Alloa Athletic missed out on promotion to the Championship by the narrowest of margins as they suffered a heart-breaking defeat to Brechin City on penalties in the final of the playoffs. In truth, though, the Indodrill Stadium side merited making the jump far more than their opponents did. They started the season playing beautifully under Jack Ross, with a slew of victories confirming the fine form they showed towards the end of the previous campaign, when they were relegated from the Championship. Indeed, Alloa were even the early-season pace setters for a period in the league, but when Ross departed to go to struggling St Mirren, there were already signs of the momentum starting to fade. The transitional period, in which Jim Goodwin took charge of the Clackmannanshire club, should perhaps have been better managed. The midfielder moved away from the system that had previously been a success for the side but went too far in trying to make his own mark on the team. Their natural abilities kept them in second, though they benefited from the likes of Brechin and Airdrie simply slumping harder than they did. Goodwin introduced a 4-2-3-1 system initially but also tried to play 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 in an attempt to maintain the momentum they had once enjoyed under Ross, but it was not until he dropped himself on a regular basis that the team started to improve once again after Christmas. Greig Spence’s poaching instincts meant they were always dangerous, but at times they were guilty of overplaying, while towards the end of the season their solution to this seemed to be simply go more direct rather than offering greater running from midfield. This was a notable problem in the playoffs, when they spent too much time simply passing the ball in front of Airdrie and then Brechin. Defensively, they can reflect upon a fine season, although the decision to replace Jason Marr with Frank McKeown in January was a strange one. Goalkeeper Neil Parry also had a fine campaign, and it seems that regardless of what happens over the summer, Alloa will have a strong foundation to work with next term.
