THE REVENGE OF THE WASPS
Cup hero Trouten savours payback for Hearts players winding up Alloa men in Gorgie league win
HEARTS were t he architects of their own demise at the Indodrill Stadium, for sure. It turns out, however, they handed over the blueprint and laid the f oundations f or it at Tynecastle five nights earlier.
Alloa’s hero of their extra-time upset, Alan Trouten, revealed their team talk was done for them in the dying embers of the 3-0 hammering Hearts handed out to them in Gorgie in midweek, with robbie Neilson’s players winding them up and lacking the class to win with grace.
Saturday, according to veteran playmaker Trouten, was payback of the sweetest kind.
The 35-year- old’s 110th-minute spot- kick — controversially awarded for a foul on Bob Thomson by Jamie Walker — sealed a first- ever Alloa win over Hearts, t heir 20th attempt in a battle going all the way back to 1889.
But their motivation came from the present rather than history.
‘A couple of their players made comments during the game on Tuesday when it was 3-0 and easy for them,’ revealed Trouten. ‘ So that fired us up.
‘A few of their boys weren’t very chirpy as the game went on this time.
‘I’ll keep exactly what was said on the park but it’s easy enough, especially for these boys earning good money and we’ve been at work all day, for them to be chirpy at 3-0.
‘So it was good to set that straight. It was mentioned among the boys what their players said but, to be fair, we don’t need that to fire us up.
‘We know we’ve had a poor start to the season. We know we didn’t play well on Tuesday night and there were some harsh words after it.
‘But this was a great result — now we need to get going and hopefully that can kick us on.’
If Trouten’s accusations are accurate, then Hearts picked the wrong team to wind up.
Alloa are a side who hear the word journeymen and wear it as a badge of honour. They’ve been around the block and back.
Their starting line-up has an average age north of 29, they have more than 3,400 l eague appearances between them and, having spent six of the past eight seasons as part- ti mers in a full-time league, they are used to scrapping it out with teams who are playing below what they think is their rightful station.
And their experience shone through as they frustrated the life out of a Hearts side sporting six internationals, four of them current, and who dominated possession but struggled more to find a way through the longer the game went on.
Neil Parry, Alloa’s 35-year- old goalkeeper, pulled off a superb double save in the seventh minute to deny Olly Lee and Liam Boyce. Andy Graham, their 37-year- old captain, might not be the quickest after his back surgery in March but he was everywhere he had to be marshalling his team.
Liam Buchanan, with ten clubs and 640 games i n his hipper, was the consummate outlet when Alloa did get out, always available, always keeping Hearts’ centrehalves honest.
‘We changed our style a bit,’ admitted Trouten. ‘We sat in and hit them on the break. They started pushing men forward and it created a bit of space.
‘They had the majority of the ball but it’s worked for us and we’re in the next round of the cup. We’ll take it.’
Alloa boss Peter Grant couldn’t have been more proud of his team as he hailed their work ethic.
‘Apart from last week against Queen of the South, which we played like a testimonial, I have been so happy with the players,’ he admitted. ‘We showed what we are capable of.
‘Some of the boys were working in the morning, one of them until 4:30am.
‘Going into extra-time I was a bit concerned about that but they showed desire and commitment. I thought as a group we worked so hard out of possession.
‘A lot of people will say we play good football and that’s nice to hear but you need to work so hard and we did that.
‘Maybe I need to look at myself as I forget these boys are working their socks off at their own jobs, doing all sorts of shifts.’
Grant was critical of Hearts’ reaction to the penalty, telling them to ‘take their medicine’.
But in fairness to Neilson, while his anger was perhaps well founded, he was also quick enough to see his own team’s failings in a
A couple of their players made comments and that fired us up
season which is turning out not to be the procession many thought it would be for them.
Their frustration set in early on Saturday, Alloa’s back f our and midfield five forming a tight, impenetrable unit.
Even when Hearts did f i nd pockets to play in, their final ball and decision-making were both poor.
Only Parry’s tip of substitute Jordan Roberts’ cross on to the bar threatened in extra-time, and by the time the penalty came, it felt inevitable.
The spot- kick was the 19th League Cup goal of Trouten’s long career and he grinned: ‘I was happy to see it hit the net. Tuesday night was the first time I’ve ever played against Craig Gordon and he’s absolutely huge!
‘So I was delighted to send him the wrong way. This is the first time I’ve been out of the groups in the Betfred, which is great, but the league is the most important thing for us and we need to start picking up more points.’
ALLOA (4-2-3-1): Parry 7; Taggart 7, Graham 8, Jamieson 7, Dick 6; Grant 6, Hetherington 7; Cawley 6, Trouten 6, Murray 6 (Connelly 94); Buchanan 6 (Thomson 101). Subs not used: Willison, Scougall, Brown, Malcolm, O’Donnell, Williamson, Lynch. Booked: Hetherington, Trouten. HEARTS (4-1-4-1): Gordon 7; Smith 6, Halkett 6, Berra 6 (Henderson 112), Kingsley 6; Haring 6; Walker 7, Halliday 6 (Roberts 81), Lee 7 (Irving 112), White 5 (Wighton 59); Boyce 5 (Naismith 62). Subs not used: Stewart, Brandon, Popescu, McGill. Booked: Naismith. Man of the match: Andy Graham. Referee: Gavin Duncan.