JIM Goodwin praised the performance of his defenders following his Alloa side’s win over promotion chasers Queen’s Park.

The Wasps claimed their first clean sheet in the league for four months, and the manager hailed his backline’s display as “fantastic”.

Goodwin told Advertiser Sport: “We dug in and to be honest we were a lot better in the second half than the first half. The boys defended admirably, particularly Andy Graham and Frank McKeown who were outstanding and nullified everything Queen’s Park could throw at us.

"Calum Waters and Scott Taggart did their jobs at the back very well too. It was excellent. We will take all the positives from the game. We scored a couple of decent goals and defensively we were fantastic.

"The clean sheet is massive. The more clean sheets you get, the more games you will win. That is quite obvious.”

Greig Spence and Jordan Kirkpatrick grabbed the headlines with strikes in the opening moments and closing stages of the game respectively, and Goodwin revealed he is delighted to have two players performing so well in front of goal.

He said: “It is great for Greig. He is so clever in and around the box. I know Gus will be disappointed with the manner in which they conceded but Greig is always anticipating that sort of thing.

"He is always one step ahead and he showed real composure, because sometimes in that situation you can have too much time. He took it well and showed real quality. He has been terrific for us all season.

“Jordan does that regularly in training and we are always encouraging him to take things on. We want him to have a go. From time to time you get a little bit of magic like that and from the moment it left his boot I knew it was in. He is a top player.”

Goodwin revealed that although Livingston are still the League One title favourites, his side will never give up the fight and says they will be ready to capitalise when the Lions slip up.

He added: “It is Livingston’s to lose. I fancied Airdrie to get something from the game but you have to give credit to Livi. They have been consistent and are quite rightly at the top of the table but we will never give up. We will keep going right to the end and hopefully we will be able to close that gap and put a bit of pressure on them.”