SUBSTITUTE Jamie Longworth climbed off the bench to fire Alloa into the next round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

The striker finally broke the deadlock in what was a fairly open encounter at Balmoor Stadium.

His effort also set up a tantalising fourth-round showdown with Dunfermline Athletic at the Indodrill Stadium early in the New Year.

Peterhead had early chances through Jamie Stevenson and Rory McAllister, with Alloa's Jordan Kirkpatrick later firing wide of the mark.

Calum Waters also came close to opening the scoring a few minutes later, before Nicky Riley and Nathan Blockley saw their efforts thwarted by the Wasps rearguard.

The game continued to move between the two goalmouths with Kirkpatrick, Iain Flannigan and Greig Spence almost breaking the deadlock, with the home side's Leighton McIntosh forcing a save from Neil Parry.

Kirkpatrick then went close again, before Parry made another save to deny McIntosh towards the end of the first half.

Peterhead's Scott Brown then fired over on the hour mark before Kirkpatrick forced a save from Graeme Smith.

Longworth was then introduced from the bench a few minutes later and made a telling impact shortly afterwards.

After 74 minutes, the striker found space on the edge of the box and fired low into the corner of the goal.

Spence clipped an effort over the bar a few minutes later, as Peterhead went in search of an equaliser at the other end.

However, the Wasps defence stood resolute and claimed another shut-out to ensure their place in the next round of the Scottish Cup.

Jim Goodwin heaped praise on his team following the victory, with special recognition going to Longworth, Parry and defender Ryan Hoggan.

The player/manager told the club website: "I was delighted with the effort and commitment as always from the lads. It was a very end-to-end game and one, I'm sure, would have been enjoyable from a neutral point of view.

"We caused a few of our own problems in the first half which allowed Peterhead a couple of opportunities, but thankfully we were able to recover in time and make the appropriate blocks and tackles to allow us to hang on to another clean sheet. I think that's ten for the season now.

"Neil Parry was outstanding again with another two very important saves at key moments in the game.

"Ryan Hoggan was excellent too, he never put a foot wrong the whole game and was very assured at left sided centre half of a back three.

"Jamie Longworth deserves special mention too, whenever you make a change as manager you hope it will have a positive impact and Jammer certainly done that for us Saturday. He took his goal very well.

"We had a number of good opportunities throughout the game and with a little bit more composure we could have scored a few more.

"Overall, I was delighted with the performance and result. It was always going to be a difficult tie, but the team stood up to everything Peterhead threw at them and managed to ensure our place in the next round of the cup."

The cold weather led to the cancellation of a number of Scottish Cup ties, including the match between Stranraer and East Kilbride. This game will now be played this coming weekend, meaning Alloa's league game with Stranraer will not go ahead.

Goodwin said he was "disappointed" this Saturday's fixture was postponed, but added that the lay-off would allow "a few of our injured boys a little more time to recover".

The Alloa v Stranraer game has been rescheduled for Tuesday, December 13, with the Scottish Cup clash with the Pars set down for the weekend of January 21-22.

ALLOA: Parry, Taggart, Waters, Hoggan, Graham, Goodwin, Robertson, Flannigan, Kirkpatrick (Longworth, 67), Cawley, Spence. UNUSED SUBS: Scullion, Hynd, Martin, Layne, Wilson, McDowall.