Published: Wednesday, 29th April, 2009 12:30pm

Alloa take it to the wire

by Jamie MacDonald

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Greig Spence takes on defender Barry Douglas in Saturday's game against relegation rivals Queen's Park.
Pic by: David Robertson

AFTER watching his side fail to wrap up Division Two survival at the weekend Allan Maitland now faces two difficult fixtures, away to Ayr United on Saturday then in the last fixture, at home to Brechin City.

The Alloa manager told Advertiser Sport, 'We played well in stages against Queens but did not kill the game. I felt we did not pass the ball as well as we should while their ability to win the ball was better than ours.

'I felt we missed Stuart Noble up front but sometimes we did not get the ball to Brian Carrigan in the box like we should have. However I felt our back two of Chris Townsley and Scot Buist, and John Grant and Brown Ferguson were excellent.'

Speaking about the Ayr game the manager said, 'It will be tough down there so I am hoping we can do the same again and manage a shut-out.

'Bomber (Brown Ferguson) has an injury while young Greig Spence took a knock and has ice on his ankle, so we will see this week how they are.'

Hard working midfielder Ferguson is hoping to be fully fit for the Somerset Park fixture. The Falkirk boy told us on Sunday, 'I actually caught my foot on the astro-turf in an innocuous challenge which was not really a bad tackle.

'But today (Sunday) my left ankle was swollen and painful, so I must have the injury assessed this week in training. After the match I felt confident there was no problem but I am not so confident now about being fit.

'I just hope there is no damage done to restrict my movement because this is a very very tough game we face at Ayr.'

The former Partick Thistle midfielder contined, 'Ayr will be desperate for the three points to help them win the title so they will have a big support behind them.

'But we are desperate for a victory too so we can stay up. Against Queen"s Park we did not give our best performance. Our two centre halfs - Chris Townsley and Scot Buist - along with David McClue and Marc McCafferty, kept us in the game.

'I also thought our young lads Gary Carroll, and Greig Spence performed well.

'But the good thing is we are four points clear of Queen"s Park but we must not rely on them losing any of their two remaining games.

'I don"t want it to go to the last game and see if we beat the play-offs, but I do hope Raith Rovers take something against Queeens this weekend.'

After losing twice to Brian Reid"s side Alloa managed to defeat Ayr 3-2 at Recreation Park ... so here"s hoping.

No doubt boss Reid will have his boys fired up - they are currently two points behind leaders Raith Rovers, with the title at stake. A big crowd is expected at Somerset Park.

In their final fixture Alloa meet Brechin City at the Recs on 9 May.