ALLOA Athletic suffered a narrow defeat on the road as they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Queen of the South. 

Iain Russell's solitary strike in the 42nd minute gave the home side a valuable three points in their hunt for a promotion playoff spot, but the visitors certainly gave them a few frights along the way. 

Wasps boss Jack Ross made one enforced change to his matchday squad as Graeme Holmes made his return to the starting eleven in place of the injured Iain Flannigan. 

Alloa set their stall out well early on and powerhouse forward Isaac Layne gave the home defence plenty to think about. 

The young hitman made an early burst towards goal getting past two defenders, but he was forced wide and tackled by defender Darren Brownlee. 

This would be the first clash in very competitive contest between the two all afternoon. 

The visitors were soon pushing forward again soon after and great work between O'Brien and Layne set up a shooting chance for Duffy inside the box, but his goal-bound effort was deflected over the top by Mark Millar. 

This early fright seemed to spring the home side to life and Jake Pickard soon tried his luck from long range, but Scott Gallacher gathered the effort easily. 

The returning Holmes then had a decent burst down the left to feed the ball into Layne inside the box. He turned away well from the close attentions of Brownlee, but the Queen's defender did well to get back in and block the shot away from goal. 

Queen's then went back on the offensive and good play from Millar gave their potent duo of Derek Lyle and Iain Russell the chance to combine, but Scott McKenna was there to thwart Russell inside the box as he looked to shoot. 

Russell was looking lively now for James Fowler's men and he found another shooting opportunity as he latched on an Alex Harris pass, but his stinging drive was well dealt with by Gallacher. 

The home side then passed up a golden chance to take the lead when a long ball forward deflected off Michael Doyle and fell for Millar 12 yards from goal, but the midfielder's shot was brilliantly saved by Gallacher with his feet. 

Layne was then once again the man looking most threatening for Alloa and when Michael Duffy fed him in on goal, he got past two players to the byline and crossed, but there were no supporting players on hand and the chance was gone. 

The Palmerston Park side got the vital breakthrough soon after when a superb diagonal ball by Millar in behind the defence found Lyle free in space on the right. He got to the byline and found Russell with a low driven cross and the striker smashed home the crucial opening goal. 

It was a bitter blow for Jack Ross and his players right before the interval, but it didn't seem to effect them too much as they once again started the better following the restart. 

The first chance of the half fell for on-loan Celtic forward Duffy, who tried his luck from some 25 yards out, only to see his spectacular effort come crashing back out off the woodwork. 

Next up, it was Layne's turn to run at the home defence as he did well to get the better of two defenders to break into the box, but once again it was Brownlee there to deny him with a last ditch tackle. 

Duffy then carved out another excellent chance for himself when he glided away from two players to shoot from just inside the box, but this time Robbie Thomson was there to make the save.

The Wasps new keeper Gallacher then had a hair-raising moment when he miscued a clearance straight to Lyle to leave the goal gaping, but luckily his blushes were spared as McKenna got across to snuff out the danger. 

Queen of the South could have wrapped up the points on 62 minutes when a brilliant burst down the right from Harris saw him pick out Lyle on the six yard line with his cross, but Burton O'Brien got back in to make a goal-saving last ditch tackle. 

The visitors were then almost gifted an equaliser on 69 minutes when an O'Brien free kick from 35 yards took a wicked turn in the wind and almost went straight into the net, but Thomson was forced to make a superb one-handed stop to keep the ball out. 

Encouraged by the close call, Alloa poured forward again soon after. Clever play between Duffy and O'Brien sent Layne racing in on goal, but the striker's long range effort flashed just over the top. 

The hosts now looked as if they had settled for what they had and just tried to take the sting out of the game in the final quarter, but Alloa were still looking dangerous. 

A thumping 30 yard effort from substitute Kyle McAusland had the home keeper worried, but the dipping effort was just over the top. 

Queen's then had two deadball free kicks from 20 yards out in the space of two minutes. On both occasions substitute Ryan Conroy whipped the ball toward the bottom right corner, but Gallacher made identical one-handed saves each time to deny him. 

The Wasps had one final chance in the dying embers of the game when Doyle burst out of defence to combine with substitutes Scott Hynd and Eddie Ferns, the cross found McAusland at the back post, but there was no takers for his header back across goal as the hosts held on for the win. 

Advertiser sport man of the match: Isaac Layne