STEVEN HETHERINGTON was delighted to score a rare goal as Alloa thrashed East Fife last weekend.

The midfielder's free kick found the net in fortunate circumstances to give him just his second goal in 77 appearances for the Wee County side.

But he admitted he was just happy to have helped his side to an important victory which could revitalise their season after a poor first quarter.

Hetherington told Advertiser Sport: "It was a good feeling to score, but I'm not sure if you can even call it a goal because I definitely didn't mean it!

"But it didn't matter where the goals came from as long as we got the win."

He added: "We know performances haven't been good enough over the first quarter of the season, but we're really happy to get the second quarter off to a good start.

"They scored out of nowhere but the way we responded to that was really good.

"The equaliser was a really good goal. We do have that type of goal in us.

"We had to be brave and get the ball forward, and although the keeper has fumbled it a bit PJ Crossan was in the right place to finish it.

"Going back to the Albion Rovers game, we haven't been good enough. We've had a couple of tough away games at Ayr and Arbroath, and we've nicked points here and there, but collectively things haven't been up to scratch. Hopefully we have turned it round now."

Hetherington reserved praise for teenage forward PJ Crossan, who opened his account for the Wasps with the equaliser after East Fife had taken the lead, and he is now hoping his young team-mate can go on a scoring run.

He said: "PJ has settled in really well and you can see that in his performances. He got injured in his first game at Airdrie but he's recovered well and when he came into the team at Arbroath, he was our best player.

"He's done well so far. I'm really glad he's been able to get his first goal, and hopefully he can push on now and get a few more."

Alloa's victory helped stop their slide and keeps them in the hunt for a playoff place, but Hetherington insisted that they are only focused on their next game at Queen's Park.

He added: "We need to just look at the next game and not get too carried away. If you take your eye off the ball in this league you get caught cold so we have to just focus on Queen's Park.

"They are a decent team and we know they'll make it hard for us, but we'll be ready and I'm confident we can get the three points."