IT WAS the kind of save that only happens once or twice a season, so when Paul Watson got on the end of a wonderful delivery he must have been convinced he had netted the winner.

But Neil Parry had other ideas. The big stopper somehow clawed the ball off the line to deny Watson and keep the Wasps in the hunt for a precious point at Tannadice.

Unfortunately, the heroics were ultimately in vain as Nicky Clark tapped home from a yard out to seal all three points for the hosts and end Alloa's stubborn resistance.

It was a bitter blow to the battling part-timers and a deflated Parry insisted he would happily have never made the save if it meant Alloa headed back down the A90 with three points in the bag.

"I would much rather it meant something," the 33-year-old told Advertiser Sport. "The boys were saying how good a save it was to me in the changing room, but it just feels as if it doesn't mean much.

"I would much rather not make a save and get a point or three points. You much prefer when it leads to a result."

The Wasps had taken an early lead in the game when Jordan Kirkpatrick fired home in the sixth minute to stun the Tannadice crowd.

An Andy Graham own goal levelled the contest, but Alloa had looked like holding out until Clark's sucker punch near the death.

Parry continued: "We are gutted and felt as if we had defended well and seen the chances out. They had a lot of corners, but we handed them pretty well.

"From their point of view, they will see it as a great goal and a great ball across the face of goal. It just feels a little bit cheap, but it is easy saying that now.

"I felt as if we put loads into it and to come away with nothing we are disappointed. It's a couple of times that has happened this season and it is probably just that the opposition are a bit higher than us.

"We just need to dust ourselves down for some huge games coming up."

The defeat was Alloa's sixth in seven games, a run which has seen the Wasps fall to the foot of the Championship table.

With a trip to Inverness Caledonian Thistle tomorrow night and Ross County visiting the Indodrill Stadium on Saturday, there seems to be no end in sight for the tough run of fixtures.

However, Parry was keen to focus on the positives of their performance in Dundee and hopes they will be able to use that in their survival battle.

He said: "We can take a lot of praise for matching them. A lot of teams will go to Tannadice and get thumped. You could hear their crowd getting anxious as the game wore on.

"The manager just told us to take it on the chin and he said we did well out there. We more than matched them at times during the game. We've got a huge few weeks coming up so we need to pick ourselves up and be ready.

"Nobody can say we've been battered. There have certainly been games where we've been outplayed at times, but we've always been worthy opposition.

"But we don't want to do that and then finish bottom of the league because that means nothing. What matters is getting points on the board."