JORDAN Kirkpatrick put in a man of the match performance against the Warriors on Saturday as the Wasps turned up the heat on their rivals.

The playmaker bagged a fine brace and was a persistent danger throughout the 90 minutes but insisted that the result was the most important thing.

He told Advertiser Sport: “It’s great to finish the year off with a win after a few draws. It’s been frustrating getting the draws when we felt we deserved the wins. It’s good to get a few goals and get us back in the mood.”

The midfielder interchanged expertly with top goal scorer Greig Spence to net Alloa’s third before being played in by Kevin Cawley for the fourth.

Kirkpatrick admitted that he was delighted to be back in amongst the goals and relieve the burden from his teammates.

He said: “I’ve got Spenny on my case, trying to wind me up about goals so it’s good to be competing with him, and having a bit of banter between the boys.

“I think it’s 13 overall with 11 in the league and he’s 17 with 14 in the league. He’s doing well so as long as we’re getting the goals, I don’t really care who’s scoring them to be honest.”

The trio of Kirkpatrick, Spence and Kevin Cawley bombarded the Stenhousemuir goal with attack after attack but the former Dumbarton man felt that it had been coming.

He said: “There’s wee phases of it throughout other games where we’re trying it and it’s not coming off but today it clicked. It’s good that we were enjoying it.

“You could see from the way we were playing that the boys were loving it. Hopefully it stays that way next week and we continue it.”

Kirkpatrick stressed the importance of the team playing with a smile on their face and showing character when things aren’t going their way.

He said: "That’s what it should always be about in every team, just enjoying your football and if the results come that makes it even better. It makes your weekend a lot better.

“Even in the weeks before, it seems to be when we lose a goal that’s when we react. It shouldn’t be but it’s just the way we are playing just now.

“It’s good that we can come back from a goal down, that’s even harder for us, so it shows an effort from the boys and the spirit that we have.”

Alloa have cemented fourth place going into the New Year and Kirkpatrick emphasised that promotion has to remain the goal.

He said: “I don’t know why we should rule it out. We should always try and chase promotion, even through the playoffs.

“As long as we concentrate on ourselves and don’t worry about any other teams, I think we’ll be okay.”