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

Arbroath..........................2

Scottish League One

ALLOA mounted a stunning comeback to move into third in the League One table as they beat playoff rivals Arbroath.

Michael McKenna and Ryan Wallace were on target for the visitors in the space of a minute, giving their side a seemingly unassailable lead.

But Callum Smith and Jordan Kirkpatrick had the Wasps on terms before the break, and the latter completed the turnaround in second half.

Jim Goodwin named an unchanged team from the side which won at Albion Rovers a week prior.

The Wasps were handed a boost as Daryll Meggatt returned to the squad for the first time since suffering a broken leg earlier in the season.

Alloa started the brighter of the two sides and Scott Taggart was in the thick of the action, testing David Hutton with a cross-come-shot and providing a terrific ball which Ross Stewart should have done better with.

But the Wasps were left shell-shocked as the visitors hit the back of the net twice in two minutes. First McKenna bundled a corner over the line to make the breakthrough, and straight from the kick-off Wallace raced onto a ball over the top and slotted past Neil Parry to make it two.

Alloa replied immediately and got themselves right back in the game four minutes later. Taggart’s cross was pinpoint, and Smith produced a tremendous header which looped over Hutton and into the top corner for his first Wasps goal.

They could have levelled the scores as Jamie McCart rose to meet an Iain Flannigan corner, but he powers his header over the bar.

Flannigan had a chance of his own soon after as the Wasps won a free kick on the edge of the Arbroath box, but he could only send his shot into Hutton’s arms.

But they were level five minutes before the break as Kirkpatrick got the goal his play had deserved. As with his strike last week against Albion Rovers, it was Stewart who laid the ball on, and from 12 yards Kirkpatrick made no mistake as he curled the ball past the outstretched arms of Hutton.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first had ended, and Kirkpatrick forced Hutton into a stunning save low to his right with a stinging drive.

There was a scare for the home side as Leighton McIntosh clipped the ball over Parry and into the net, but they were saved by the assistant referee’s flag – the striker had strayed marginally offside.

But as the game entered the closing stages the Wasps did gain the upper hand. Kirkpatrick miscued his shot, but that may have helped his cause as Hutton was wrong-footed, the ball looping over the stranded keeper and into the net.

Alloa found themselves getting forced deeper and deeper in the final ten minutes but ultimately they were able to hold out for a valuable win which moves them above their opponents in the table.

ALLOA: Parry, Taggart, Crane, Graham, McCart, Robertson, Smith (Cawley), Hetherington, Stewart, Kirkpatrick, Flannigan (Crossan). UNUSED SUBS: Renton, Meggatt, Goodwin, Wilson.