ALLOA midfielder Kevin Cawley admitted that last Saturday’s draw with Queen’s Park was painful for the Wasps squad.

Cawley’s side had looked on course for another victory but were pegged back when the Spiders snatched a stoppage-time leveller.

And the former Dumbarton man believes the Wasps should have been out of sight long before then, bemoaning their failure to convert a number of second-half chances.

Cawley told Advertiser Sport: “We are obviously very disappointed to have conceded a goal so late on in the game. In the first half we weren’t at our best but we did well in spells, and after half time we dominated the game and should have seen it out. It was a very sore one for us to take.

“We had a few chances, especially in the second half, and to be honest we should have put the game to bed. When you don’t you are always running the risk of it coming back to bite you. It only takes one opportunity, and unfortunately for us, Queen’s Park took theirs.

“We have to pick ourselves up now. We will come back in during the week and work hard to make sure we make up for it against Albion Rovers. It will be a very tough game – they are fighting for their lives down at the bottom but if we prepare ourselves the right way we will go into it feeling confident.”

Despite the disappointment of failing to beat Queen’s Park, Alloa are still unbeaten in nine games, and Cawley admitted the players have been left to rue a poor spell which saw them fall behind Livingston in the title race.

He said: “We are nine games unbeaten but it was that spell in the second quarter of the season that killed us. We drew too many games and that has been our downfall. If we had picked up more points then the table would look very different just now.”

The midfielder insisted that even if his side fail to catch the league leaders, they will keep fighting to finish second and approach the playoffs in a positive manner.

Cawley added: “If it becomes mathematically impossible to win the title then we will do our utmost to finish second and then go into the playoffs in a positive frame of mind. There are a lot of boys in this team who have been through the playoffs before so we would know what to expect in that situation.”