Bala Town.......2
Alloa Athletic...4
Challenge Cup

The visitors started much the brighter in the scenic lakeside setting of The Maes.

The Wasps dominated the early possession and made their pressure count when they swept into the lead on 10 minutes.

Some lovely combination play between Graeme Holmes and Scott Taggart saw progress up the pitch to find Kevin Cawley on the edge of the box. A clever pass from the skilful forward sent Jordan Kirkpatrick racing in on goal, his shot was blocked, but top goalscorer Greig Spence reacted quickest to smash the ball home from close range.

The hosts tried to respond and had their first real venture forward on 16 minutes when Lee Hunt looked to power his way down the right wing, but a combination of Jason Marr first and then Calum Waters saw them thwart the threat.

Alloa should have doubled their lead on 33 minutes when some quick thinking by Iain Flannigan saw him latch onto a short back pass ahead of Stuart Jones to send Spence racing in on the goalkeeper. The striker did well to get round the advancing Ashley Morris, but miskicked the shot as he went to score.

The second goal did come on 43 minutes when Scott Taggart worked his way in from the right flank to pick out Jon Robertson on the edge of the box and he curled the ball into the top corner for 2-0.

No sooner had the dust settled on the second goal when Spence added his second and Alloa’s third goal in first half stoppage time.

Kirkpatrick’s burst forward was halted by a crushing tackle by Stuart Jones, but as the ball broke loose Spence was there to smash a curling effort home off the post from 25 yards to make it 3-0.

Alloa went through the motions in the second half, but they made things hard for themselves when Taggart conceded a penalty on 57 minutes for a trip on Chris Venables. Lee Hunt converted the kick to give the hosts a glimmer of hope, but the comeback was short lived.

The Wasps added a fourth on 62 minutes with a wonderful move. Spence fed the ball into Kirkpatrick and his back heel flick allowed Kevin Cawley to run through and slot for 4-1.

To their credit, the hosts rallied again and did grab a second goal when Stuart J Jones bulleted home a header from a free kick to set up a nervy finish, but the Wasps saw out the game to advance to the Quarter Finals with a 4-2 win.

ALLOA: Parry, Taggart, Waters, Gordon, Marr, Robertson, Flannigan (Martin 90), Holmes , Spence , Cawley (Donnelly 64), Kirkpatrick (Longworth 84). UNUSED SUBS: McDowall, Wilson, Scullion, Cunningham.

Advertiser Sport man of the match: Jon Robertson