Alloa Athletic..........................3

Brechin City............................0

Scottish Cup, 3rd round

ALLOA eased into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup as they made light work of League One Brechin City on Saturday.

Goals from Dario Zanatta, Greig Spence, and Alan Trouten fired the Wasps past Barry Smith’s side.

Jim Goodwin’s men can now look forward to a fourth round clash away to Premiership St Mirren in January.

Looking to bounce back from two successive defeats, the gaffer made two changes to his starting lineup as Spence and Kevin Cawley returned.

Jake Hastie and Sam Roscoe dropped out as their loan agreements prevent them playing in the Scottish Cup.

In front of a sparse crowd and former manager Smith, the Wasps started brightly as Iain Flannigan and then Zanatta dragged efforts off target.

Alan Trouten was next to go close when he got on the end of a superb flowing move and brought out a brilliant reaction save from Conor Brennan.

At the other end, Neil Parry had to remain alert to block at the feet of Andy Jackson and moments later Kalvin Orsi’s stinging drive flew just wide.

Brechin were proving a tough nut to crack, but Zanatta should have scored when he sent a free header straight at Brennan.

However, the Canadian wasn’t to be denied for long as he made it 1-0 after 31 minutes.

The Hearts loanee picked the ball up on the edge of the box and superbly drilled it through the legs of Ryan McGeever and into the far corner.

Alloa were well on top and Brennan had to be alert to stop Zanatta making it two at the end of another flowing move.

It seemed a matter of when rather than if for the Wasps’ second. First, Trouten’s audacious flick was cleared off the line by McGeever and minutes later Brennan threw himself at Spence’s feet to block his goal bound shot.

In many ways, half time came at the worst possible moment for the home side as they struggled to find the same rhythm in the second period.

But, they finally looked to have put the tie to bed when Spence broke his scoring duck on the hour mark as he fired home Trouten’s lay off.

Two minutes later, it was three as the provider turned finisher. Again it came as a result of wonderful passing play from the Wasps and Trouten couldn’t miss when Zanatta put it on a plate for a tap in.

The Spence, Trouten, and Zanatta trio had been brilliant all day and all three were involved in everything good for the hosts.

With the game seemingly done, Goodwin wrung the changes as Flannigan, Zanatta, and Cawley were replaced by Ahmed Aloulou, Liam Burt, and Connor Shields.

Spence did have a chance to nab a brace in the final minute, but he got his header from Shield’s dangerous cross horribly wrong.

He then went even closer with the final kick of the game as he narrowly missed Shield’s ball across the face.

But in the end, it made little difference to the Wasps’ dominant day.