Alloa Athletic.............0

St Mirren...............…0

Pre-season friendly

ALLOA and St Mirren could not be separated as the two sides played out a goalless pre-season draw at the Indodrill Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Despite the lack of goals, the match was an entertaining one, with plenty of chances for both teams in what was Alloa's final outing before their competitive season gets underway next weekend.

After fielding a number of trialists as the Wasps beat Stirling Albion 2-0 last Tuesday, player-manager Jim Goodwin stuck with his signed players as he took on the side he spent five years with as a player.

The visitors were on the offensive straight from the kick off, and Jordan Kirkpatrick, returning to Alloa for the first time since his summer move to Paisley, almost scored with his first touch inside 20 seconds, fizzing a volley just wide of Craig McDowall's right-hand post.

St Mirren kept the pressure on and had a succession of corners headed away, but Alloa were a threat on the counter and Iain Flannigan just failed to get on the end of Alan Cook's cross after the winger had broken free down the left.

The Wasps started to grow into the game, and Ross Stewart had to look sharp to keep out Craig Malcolm's header, the former Albion Rovers keeper getting down well to hold onto the ball.

Flannigan was close to an opener again, shaving the post with a free kick after Cook had been fouled, while Josh Todd skewed a shot wide at the other end after he had been played in by Gary Irvine.

Flannigan and Cook had combined well in the early stages and the latter was close to converting his team-mate's cross, but Stewart got a hand to the ball just as Cook attempted to direct it goalwards.

Kirkpatrick was proving exactly why Jack Ross was so keen to get him on board at St Mirren Park, and he flashed a shot just over the crossbar, before Dale Hilson followed suit moments later.

The momentum had swung back the way of the Championship side, and Gregor Buchanan wasn't far away with a header which had McDowall scrambling.

The keeper was having a good game between the sticks and he made a terrific double save to keep out first Hilson and then the Buddies' striker Ross Stewart.

The second half was played at a much more leisurely pace than the first, but both teams still threatened, Scott Taggart testing Stewart with a low drive from the edge of the box.

McDowall's excellent performance continued when he produced a magnificent stop to tip Gavin Reilly's header round the post after the striker had done well to reach Stelios Demetriou's cross.

At the other end, Stewart was called into action when Adam Martin capitalised on a slip and crossed for Kevin Cawley, who saw his shot saved by the keeper's legs.

The match was a friendly by name but there was no love lost between Steven Hetherington and Stephen McGinn, the pair squaring up after a crunching 50-50 in the middle of the park and receiving a stern lecture from referee Alan Muir.

Despite being unable to find a breakthrough the Wasps had produced some lovely link-up play, and Cawley saw a cross-come-shot sail over the bar after McDonald and Thomas Grant had strung together a nice move to play him in.

Lewis Morgan wasn't far away from making the difference late on with a shot which skimmed off the surface and away from McDowall, but went just the wrong side of the post.

And the Wasps could also have snatched it late on when McDonald went clear, only for Stewart to rush out and snuff out the attack.

And that was the final action of a game which belied its scoreline, and one which will have stood Alloa in good stead for next week's season opener at Ross County in the Betfred Cup group stage.

ALLOA: McDowall, Taggart, Meggatt, McKeown, Graham, Robertson (Hoggan), Cawley (Cunningham), Flannigan (Grant), Malcolm (Hetherington), Fleming (McDonald), Cook (Martin). UNUSED SUBS: Monaghan, Wilson.