Alloa Athletic's luckless run at home continues as St Mirren snatch late 1-0 win in SPFL Championship clash

Jack Ross made two changes to his starting line-up as Graeme Holmes replaced Connor McManus who dropped to the bench, while Ryan Finnie missed out with injury so Robbie Crawford got the nod. 

The home side started brightly and carved out the first opportunity when on-loan Celtic forward Michael Duffy got past two players into the St Mirren box, but the shot was straight at Jamie Langfield. 

The opening 20 minutes was a real scrappy affair as the two sides battled for superiority, but instead seemed to cancel each other out. 

St Mirren’s midfielder Alex Cooper tried his luck from long range on 17 minutes to end a spell of no action, but Scott Gallacher gathered easily. 

Steven Hetherington then did well to win the Wasps a free kick on the left wing 30 yards from goal. He dusted himself down to take the kick and his cross was met at back post by skipper Dougie Hill, but the header was into the side netting. 

There was then a heart-in-the-mouth moment for Colin Hamilton as a miscue sent Callum Gallagher in on the keeper, but the defender did superbly well to make a recovering tackle to deny the Saints’ hitman a clear goalscoring chance. 

The Wasps’ fans were again looking on through their hands on 33 minutes when Cooper’s driven cross was met by Marr, but the defender’s sliced clearance went inches over his own crossbar. 

Alloa ended the half on top with a few half chances between Mitch Megginson, Iain Flannigan and the impressive Duffy, but the 0-0 stalemate at the interval was all the two teams deserved at that point. 

After the restart, it was the hosts who came out with the bit between their teeth and earned the first chance of the half within the first 60 seconds. Some superb combination play between Flannigan and Duffy earned a corner. The set piece was cleared only as far as the in-form Hetherington, but his stinging drive flashed narrowly over the bar. 

Duffy was now in full flow for Alloa and causing all sorts of problems for the St Mirren defence. On 53 minutes, he burst past two players to the edge of the box and smashed an effort in on goal, but it was swerving just the wrong side of the post. 

Alex Rae’s side then almost took an unlikely lead against the run of play, when Hill’s short back header was gathered by Lawrence Shankland 5 yards out, but the shot was straight at Gallacher. 

Alloa reacted well to the scare and soon resumed their siege on the Saints’ goal. On 63 minutes, Holmes fed Megginson in down the left to cross, he picked out Flannigan who saw his volley loop up toward the top corner before being cleared off the line by Watson. Duffy met the clearance, but Langfield got out to smother then Holmes could only blast over from the rebound. 

Flannigan and Duffy were at the heart of everything for Alloa and were unlucky on 65 minutes not to create a scoring chance for Megginson through some neat inter-play, but Andy Webster was there to thwart the danger. 

Alloa were beginning to turn the screw as they looked to end their record of no home wins this season. Duffy took control of cross field pass inside the box with a brilliant first touch, then skipped past his marker to shoot, but Langfield denied him with his feet. 

Alloa’s best chance of the match came on 73 minutes and it was no surprise to see it fall to Duffy. A neat move from the Wasps involving Holmes, Flannigan, Crawford and Megginson saw the ball laid back for Duffy 8 yards out and he smashed the ball down the centre of the goal headed for the net, but somehow Langfield pulled off a stunning one-handed save to deny him a certain goal. 

St Mirren almost went ahead on 82 minutes when Shankland picked out substitute Lewis Morgan at the back post, but his shot went across the face of goal and inches past the far post. 

Fellow substitute Steve Thompson then almost seized on a slip by Hill to race in on the keeper, but Kyle McAusland did well to make a superb last ditch tackle in the box. 

St Mirren, did however, get a sucker punch goal against the run of play on 85 minutes through defender Keith Watson. Morgan’s corner fell for Watson, Marr did well to block the initial shot, but when the ball rebounded back to Watson for a second attempt, he made no mistake to fire the ball into the back of the net.

Alloa had a late chance from a Flannigan corner when Marr tried to guide the ball into the far corner with a header, but Saints cleared their lines to hold on for all three points. 

Livingston’s unlikely win at Falkirk made the gap at the bottom of the SPFL Championship now 13 points meaning the Wasps are could be relegated if they fail to win when the two sides meet next weekend. 

Advertiser man of the match: Michael Duffy