STUART FRASER

[ Home / Past Articles / CV ]

FOOTBALL
ALLOA ATHLETIC WIN OBAN TOURNAMENT
Freelance Article
By Stuart Fraser
Monday 13^th July 2009

ALLOA ATHLETIC were the surprise winners of the Keyline Challenge Cup in Oban on Saturday.

The Second Division club finished the day unbeaten in the pre-season tournament hosted by amateur club Oban Saints which featured Dundee United’s first team as well as second-string sides and youth teams from Hamilton Accies, Hearts and St Johnstone.

Dundee United finished third and despite being the most experienced team in attendance, manager Craig Levein was happy with his team’s first taste of pre-season action rather than the results.

Levein said: “Most importantly, it's a good work out for the players. I said last year that it was nice to win it but that that wasn't the point of the exercise as far as we were concerned. That's still the case this year.”

Dundee United only scored one goal, courtesy of 17-year-old Ross Smith, in five 30 minute matches but Levein wasn’t too worried about the lack of goals from his side.

He said: “The fact is I can bring a full squad of players here and everybody can get at least two to three games and that is what attracts me. It is hard to score goals as half an hour is not a lot of time.”

Alloa opened the day with a 1-0 win over Dundee United and manager Allan Maitland believes this was the key to his team’s success.

He said: “Winning our first game against Dundee United helped because if you lose your first game here, it makes the rest of the day difficult.

“We have worked really hard for it today and I think the boys have done very well.”

Maitland also hoped the victory would be a good luck charm for the coming season after going on to reach the Division One play-offs after previously winning the tournament in 2007.

He said: “Winning it is always fortunate. We didn’t win it last year and had a terrible season but the year before when we won it, we had a great season so let’s hope for the same again.”