Alloa Athletic 1 - 0 Queen of the South: Alloa inflict first defeat on Doonhamers

SECOND Division leaders Queen of the South lost their unbeaten tag as they went down to a Ryan McCord penalty to second-placed Alloa on a very chilly night at Recreation Park.

SCORERS:

Alloa Athletic - McCord (58 pen)

The result could bring the Second Division Championship race alive as the Wasps have now pulled to within six points of the long-term leaders after a game where the woodwork was struck four times.

The first-half finished goalless, although both sides came close to netting with the home side Kevin Cawley’s exchanging passes with Graeme Holmes on 14 minutes to dart through on goal and the striker slipped a shot past Lee Robinson only to see it strike the inside of the post and bounce to safety.

The Dumfries’ sides struck the bar midway through the half when Paul Burns let fly from 30 yards with Nicky Clark firing the rebound over, and that was to be Burns’ last piece of meaningful action as he was carried off.

The deadlock was broken on 58 minutes from the penalty spot when Martin Grehan had his legs hooked away from him by Ryan McGuffie and McCord despatched the ball home.

As Queen’s pushed and probed before the end, Reilly had an effort charged down with referee Colvin correctly ignoring appeals for a penalty before Clark sent the loose ball into Bain’s chest.

Alloa: Bain, Doyle, Docherty, Gordon, Marr, Young, Cawley, Ryan McCord, Grehan (Thomson 72), Holmes (Tapping 59), Low. Subs not used: Ross McCord, Simmons, McDowall.

Queen of the South: Robinson, Mitchell, McGuffie, Durnan, Higgins, Burns (Holt 30), Gibson (Smith 76), McKenna, Reilly (Hopkirk 85), Clark, Carmichael. Subs not used: Black, Atkinson.

Referee: B Colvin. Attendance: 475.