IT never rains but it pours for Alloa Athletic at the moment, as they crashed to the foot of the SPFL Championship table following a narrow 1-0 defeat at Greenock Morton.

Danny Lennon recalled vice captain Burton O’Brien to his starting eleven as Iain Flannigan dropped to the bench. Young Connor McManus took his place on the bench also as he continued his recovery from illness.

The home side got out the traps quickly when Connor Pepper burst down the right, but his crossed flashed across the face of goal with no takers.

Alloa responded well and it was good play by Kyle McAusland to beat his man and feed the ball into Duffy on the edge of the box, but his through ball for Michael Chopra was halted by both the keeper and the offside flag.

A decent burst forward from Duffy then earned his side a free kick as he was hauled down 35 yards from goal by Thomas O’Ware. Chopra stepped up to take the kick, but his effort was high over the top.

Morton then had a ten minute spell on top where they produced three decent chances.

Romario Sabajo won the ball in midfield, played the ball wide for Denny Johnstone and then managed to get his head to the cross, but the effort was wide of the mark.

Michael Tidser then produced a superb mazy run that saw him get to the Alloa byline, but Jason Marr was there to make a vital interception as Johnstone waited to pounce on the cutback.

Pepper then gathered the ball well on the right to cross. Sabajo was once again on the end of the cross, but again his header was wide.

The visitors then wrestled back the forward impetus and a free flowing move involving Duffy, Crawford and then Holmes got Alloa to the edge of Morton’s box, but the final pass for Chopra was again halted by the keeper and the offside flag.

Duffy threatened to cut the hosts open again moments later when he took control of a difficult ball and guided it quickly past his marker into the path of Crawford. He did well to nutmeg Kilday, but Pepper got across to snuff out the danger with a last ditch tackle in the box, as the Alloa midfielder tried to square for Chopra.

The game continued to sway from end to end and on 28 minutes it was the home side’s turn to attack. Ross Forbes robbed O’Brien of possession on halfway and found the energetic Thomas Orr on the wide right, but the cross fizzed across the face of Andy McNeil’s goal with no takers.

Alloa then produced the best chance of the first half when a superb Michael Doyle cross was brilliantly controlled by Chopra just yards from goal inside the box, he then swivelled his man, but his swing at the shot only got fresh air under heavy pressure from the recovering O’Ware as the golden opportunity went begging.

Morton ended the first half on top with a number of close attacks. The bright Sabajo whipped in a wicked cross to the back post, but Colin Hamilton did well to cut out the danger from the path of the advancing Orr at the back post.

The Ton had a penalty claim turned down when Doyle dispossessed Sabajo in the box with a solid challenge that left the midfielder rolling around in pain after the fall.

The Wasps defender got the ball, but the Morton star would end up being replaced due to the injury picked up in the tackle. Substitute Bobby Barr immediately made an impact as he won his side a corner.

The delivery was met by striker Denny Johnstone, but his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by Chopra as the half ended goalless.

Alloa had the first chance after the restart and it came from a corner kick. O’Brien’s delivery fell favourably at the feet of Crawford, but Gaston was there to make a brilliant save to deny the ferocious shot.

Such a competitive game was always going to be decided by one piece of magic or quality and that duly came for the home side on 54 minutes. Doyle was penalised for a rash challenge 30 yards from goal and booked for high feet.

Dead-ball specialist Forbes stepped up and curled an unstoppable strike up and over the wall and into the far top corner to give McNeil no chance and his side a crucial lead. It was almost 2-0 just three minutes later, when O’Ware fancied trying his luck from 30-yards with a stinging drive, but this time McNeil was equal to the shot and beat the ball away to safety. Danny Lennon made three changes in quick succession in an attempt to rescue something from the match as Isaac Layne, Eddie Ferns and Iain Flannigan were sent on in place of Chopra, McAusland and Duffy.

The changes seemed to get the Wasps back on the front foot and Doyle’s cross was flicked on well by Layne then struck by Hamilton at the edge of the box, but Gaston was there to gather the shot.

Jim Duffy’s side should have killed the match on 73 minutes. Mark Russell’s header from Barr’s cross came crashing back off the Alloa crossbar and fell to the feet of Forbes five yards out, but somehow the former Motherwell midfielder blazed the ball over the bar with the goal gaping.

A mazy run on the counter by Ferns was then halted illegally by Pepper on the edge of the box. This set up a shooting chance for the Wasps’ own dead-ball specialist Flannigan, but this time his effort was straight down the throat of the keeper who gathered easily.

Morton broke out quickly following the free kick and Barr soon found himself clear through on goal, but incredibly as he looked to square to Johnstone for the tap-in, it was Flannigan who had made up the ground to get back and clear. Alloa had one final chance to rescue a point when Layne got on the end of Crawford’s cross to head the ball toward goal, but Gaston did well to gather and confirm the win for his side. The defeat proved a costly one as results elsewhere meant Alloa crashed to the foot of the SPFL Championship and now the home clash with their old rivals Queen of the South becomes more crucial than ever.

Alloa: McNeil, Doyle, Hamilton, Marr, Reintam, McAusland (Flannigan 63), O’Brien, Holmes, R.Crawford, Duffy (Layne 63), Chopra (Ferns 70). Subs not used: D.Crawford, Williams, Hetherington, McManus.

Advertiser sport man of the match: Jason Marr