Goals are scarce as Alloa Athletic host Airdrieonians
Alloa Athletic and Airdrieonians meet at Recreation Park after poor runs, with a view on a game where goals look hard to come by at either end.
By Barrie Moran,
Take one afternoon out of each side's last five matches and you are left with two teams who have managed two goals apiece in four games. For Alloa Athletic that afternoon was the 3-0 win at East Fife on 17 October. For Airdrieonians it was the 2-2 draw at East Kilbride a week before that. Everything else has been thin, and that is the shape of Saturday's League One meeting at Recreation Park.
Alloa Athletic's recent form
One win and four defeats, five scored and ten conceded. The win at East Fife was emphatic, and it came with their only clean sheet of the run. It did not start anything, though. Queen of the South won 1-0 at Recreation Park the following week, and Peterhead beat Alloa 2-1 last Saturday.
The detail that matters most for this one is what has happened at home. Alloa have played twice at Recreation Park in this spell, losing 3-0 to Hamilton Academical and 1-0 to Queen of the South. That is no goals in two home games. All five of their goals in the run have come on the road, and three of them came on a single day.
Airdrieonians' recent form
Airdrieonians arrive on three straight defeats with one goal scored across them. They lost 2-1 at home to Hamilton Academical, 4-0 away to Ross County and 1-0 at home to Cove Rangers last weekend. Their last win was a 1-0 home result against Montrose on 3 October, which was also their only clean sheet. Across the five games it comes to four scored and nine conceded, which is marginally better than Alloa at both ends and not much to boast about at either.
Shared opponents and the last meeting
Both sides played Ross County and Hamilton Academical in October, which gives a rough yardstick. Alloa lost 4-1 away to Ross County, and Airdrieonians lost 4-0 there. Alloa lost 3-0 at home to Hamilton, and Airdrieonians lost 2-1 at home to them. There is next to nothing in it. Alloa at least scored in Ross County's ground, and Airdrieonians at least kept the Hamilton defeat to a single goal.
The most recent meeting was on 12 September, when Airdrieonians won 1-0 at home. One match is a small sample, but it fits the pattern of everything since. Neither side is putting opponents away.
The verdict
I expect a low-scoring game, and my view is that Airdrieonians avoid defeat, with a draw the likeliest single outcome. Alloa's home record in this run is two games without a goal, and Airdrieonians have not scored in their last two either. Against that, the visitors won the September meeting and ran Hamilton slightly closer. That is not a strong case, but it is the stronger of two weak ones.
What would change my mind is any sign that the afternoon at East Fife was the rule for Alloa rather than the exception. A goal in either of their last two home games would have been a start. As it stands, the 3-0 is still standing on its own.