ALLOA boss Danny Lennon labelled their crushing 5-0 defeat to Falkirk in the local derby as the worst of their season so far.

The Bairns raced into a 3-0 first half lead last weekend and the Wasps never recovered as they slumped to defeat extending their run of nine games without a win.

This latest result makes it five straight losses for the Wee County side, who are five points adrift at the foot of the SPFL Championship table and the manager believes they have simply not been at the races recently.

Lennon told Advertiser sport: "I thought Falkirk were exceptional today, and thoroughly deserved their victory and the quality goals that went along with that, but we didn’t do ourselves justice at any time. I was 45 minutes with my players after the match in the dressing room.

"We had selection problems and we had to shuffle the pack, even right up until this morning we were waiting, but then had two further call offs. So that was frustrating, but I certainly don’t make that as any excuse as I feel the quality within this squad should have been equipped to come in and handle this situation. Unfortunately, as a whole we didn’t show these qualities. No doubt it is our worst display of this season and the fact that it is a local derby we didn’t want to come and get done over like that, but we failed to bring our true qualities in our application and attitude. The players spirit is always there, but I thought in terms of us putting it all together we fell well short of what I expect."

Lennon was disappointed that his men were unable match the fire and intensity of Peter Houston's men as they brushed his players aside with ease last Saturday.

The gaffer was, however, buoyed by the substitute appearance of youth duo Martin Hardie and Scott Hynd and he hopes it is a bright sign for the club that their youngsters are ready to breakthrough into the first team.

He said: "What was a positive for us was the two younger kids coming on and showing a wee bit of energy. I think even in any situation, given how difficult it was for us against Falkirk, to try and take a positive from it then their introduction was our only positive, we are very much aware of where we are at this moment in time during the season and up until now there are things which haven’t worked for us. Changes will now need to be made and we will certainly be bold enough to do that and so the young lads have done themselves no harm. We never got out the traps and I read Peter Houston’s comments in the match programme – how they like to dominate the middle of the pitch and play at such a high intensity, - they certainly done that and they were good to watch. It was that hunger and appetite that won them the match and if we can take anything from the game, we need to show that energy and the tempo of the game that Falkirk played from start to finish."

Alloa now have the unenviable task of facing the in-form side in the division when they host Alan Stubbs' high flying Hibs, but the 47-year-old boss says the game still holds no fears for his players.

Lennon added: "We now take on Hibernian next week but these are the challenges we all signed up for, we knew how competitive the league was, and to be honest with that group of players, the big games they don’t really faze me because we know the players level of application will be there as they showed at Ibrox last week."