Alloa Athletic collect a point in race for League One title after drawing with Stranraer

ALLOA were held to a 2-2 draw by struggling Stranraer in their first home game in over a month as they lost ground to Livingston in the race for the League One title.

The Wasps came from behind twice thanks to a Greig Spence double, cancelling out strikes from Willie Gibson and Scott Agnew.

Alloa came into the game without a league win since their 4-1 victory over Stenhousemuir at the beginning of November, while Stranraer had lost to Livingston on Saturday despite leading for much of the game.

The game began at a high tempo and Spence almost had his side in the lead within the first few minutes, racing onto a pass which sliced the Stranraer defence wide open, but Cameron Belford was out quickly to deny the striker.

And barely a minute later, the visitors took the initiative with their first chance of the game. Craig Thomson sent in a hopeful cross which wasn’t dealt with, and Scott Agnew arrowed a fine volley into the corner, giving Neil Parry no chance.

The Alloa reaction was immediate and Kevin Cawley fired a low shot wide, before Jordan Kirkpatrick’s speculative overhead kick met the same fate.

Jason Marr’s goalbound header was then cleared off the line by Steven Bell but the equaliser eventually arrived midway through the half.
Jamie Longworth laid the ball off to Kirkpatrick who had a go from distance.

It looked fairly harmless until a massive deflection off Spence, who despite not knowing much about it, will be keen to claim the goal.
Chances continued to fall at both ends, Gibson testing Parry with a thunderous free kick which stung the palms of the former Airdrie keeper.

Alloa had a strong shout for a penalty shortly before half time when the ball seemed to strike a Stranraer hand in the box, but the referee, who was perhaps unsighted, gave a corner instead.

After the interval, the first real opening of the second half fell to Guiliano Morena, who was desperately unlucky to see a wonderful strike from distance crash off the outside of the post.

Belford made another good stop to deny Spence his second before Parry was called into action to keep out Bell’s header at the other end.

With just under twenty minutes remaining the game’s main talking point arrived. Jason Marr slid into a challenge on Gibson thirty yards from goal and appeared to win the ball cleanly, but the referee felt otherwise and awarded the visitors a free kick, showing the Alloa man a yellow card in the process.

To add insult to injury, Gibson dusted himself down and curled a magnificent shot into the top corner to restore his side’s advantage and bolster their hopes of claiming what before kick off would have been an unlikely three points.

But less than ten minutes later the Wasps were back on level terms, and once again Kirkpatrick and Spence were the two players involved. Kirkpatrick swung in a terrific ball from the right, and Spence rose highest to head the ball beyond Belford.

They so nearly took the lead barely moments later, with Longworth clipping the outside of the post with a similar effort, but in the end neither side could find a winner and both had to be content with a point.

Alloa Athletic: Parry, Taggart, Waters, Marr, Graham, Holmes (Layne), Cawley, Robertson, Spence, Longworth, Kirkpatrick. Subs: Hetherington, Scullion, Martin, Hoggan, Hynd, McDowall.