Alloa Athletic..........1

Ayr United...............2

Scottish League One

ALLOA's impressive winning run came to an end as they suffered a heartbreaking defeat to league leaders Ayr United.

Michael Moffat’s early header put the visitors in front but Scott Taggart thought he had rescued a point late in the game.

However, in stoppage time Craig Moore won it for the Honest Men to ensure they retained their position at the top of the table.

Jim Goodwin named an unchanged team for the sixth week in a row as the Wasps looked to build on their impressive five-match winning streak.

The Wasps got off to the worst possible start when they fell behind inside five minutes. Declan McDaid got down the right and crossed for Moffat, who flicked his header beyond Neil Parry and into the far corner to give the visitors the upper hand.

Alloa roared back, and Jon Robertson thundered a volley off the crossbar after good work by PJ Crossan down the left flank, before Ross Docherty cleared a Steven Hetherington free kick off the line as Andy Graham closed in.

Parry was called into action for the first time when he made a tremendous save from Chris Higgins’ header. Michael Rose volleyed over from the resulting corner as Alloa came under increasing pressure.

It was an exciting game which was swinging from end to end, and when Graham rose to knock the ball down for Crossan, it looked as though they would level the scores, but the young striker snatched at his shot and sent it spinning wide.

The Celtic loanee did have the ball in the net when he raced clear and dinked an effort over Jordan Hart, but he was denied by the assistant referee’s flag.

Moffat was causing huge problems for the Alloa defence and almost had his second just before the half-hour mark. Having picked up the ball midway inside the Wasps’ half, he took a couple of steps before unleashing an unstoppable shot which crashed back off the crossbar, Taggart preventing Lawrence Shankland from getting to the rebound.

There was further woe for Wasps manager Jim Goodwin when he protested a decision against his side a little too much and was sent to the stand ten minutes before the break.

The home side were still very much in the game and just before the interval, Callum Crane had Hart scrambling with a dipping half-volley which sailed just wide of the top left corner.

Both sides came out firing after half-time but it was the visitors who had the better opportunities, and when Shankland drove into the box he had a golden chance to score, but he drilled his shot straight at Parry.

The visitors then rattled the woodwork again, McDaid heading a Moore cross onto the top of the bar.

Parry was again called into action, keeping out Moore’s low shot, while Moffat lashed over after the ball fell to him on the edge of the box.

However, despite the pressure they were coming under, the Wasps hit back with 13 minutes to play. A corner caused havoc in the box, and in the ensuing scramble, Taggart was able to get a toe on the ball and lash it beyond Hart.

They almost found a winner when Cawley’s shot beat the keeper and hit the outside of the post.

But their hearts were broken in the dying seconds when Ayr snatched the points. Docherty slipped a perfectly-weighted pass to Moore, who raced away from Graham and smashed the ball beyond Parry at his near post.

The result, combined with Arbroath’s win over Forfar, meant that the Wasps dropped to fourth, while Ayr extended their lead at the top to three points over Raith Rovers, who host Alloa next week.

ALLOA: Parry, Taggart, Crane, Graham, Fleming (Renton), Robertson, Cawley, Hetherington, Malcolm, Crossan, Flannigan. Not used: Cook, Martin, Hoggan, Monaghan, Goodwin, Wilson.