ANY illusion of mutual camaraderie between the Championships’ only part-time teams must have been crushed thanks to a full-blooded clash in the Angus sunshine.

There was little love lost between two sides many will expect to be battling it out for the right to retain their status in Scotland’s second tier this season.

Alloa prevailed in the end thanks to a brace from Alan Trouten and another Liam Buchanan goal.

It was a game which the visitors grew into as the afternoon wore on; but the hosts showed in glimpses they won’t go down quietly in a potential relegation tussle.

Greig Spence and the Wee County have so often seemed a match made in heaven, but the four-time Alloa player proved a thorn in Wasps’ side.

His partnership with Gavin Swankie with Bobby Linn on the left was dangerous throughout, especially during the latter half of the first 45 which the hosts ended on top.

And, oddly, it seemed to be Alloa’s brightest moment of the half which sparked Arbroath into life. The Wasps had started well and the midfield trio of Kevin Cawley – who was in a more unusual central role – Iain Flannigan, and Adam Brown teased moments of fluency as they moved the ball about the lush turf.

After trading a couple of testing jabs in the opening exchanges, the Red Litchies finally landed something substantial. Andy Graham was culpable, hauling Spence down on the edge of the box, and the dangerous Linn made no mistake with a low free kick.

But, Alloa instantly retorted with a sucker punch of their own, breaking from kick off to send Trouten towards goal, whose cross was squeezed home via an Arbroath defender by Buchanan.

Rather than injecting fresh impetus into Alloa veins, this only seemed to encourage the hosts who pinned the Wasps inside their own half for large spells. Linn, in particular, was a constant threat and after evading Cawley his rasping shot just evaded Henry’s goal.

Henry had looked a little suspect at Arbroath’s opener, but the youngster more than made amends when he reacted sharply to turn Liam Dick’s wayward point blank header away as Alloa struggled to keep Arbroath at bay.

For all the encouragement offered by Cawley, Flannigan, and Brown, it seemed the lack of wingers was hurting Alloa by allowing Linn and co to take advantage of the space evacuated by lung busting charges forward from the full backs.

The plan very much seemed to be for Kevin O’Hara and Buchanan to drift into the wide areas as makeshift wingers. And this eventually paid dividends just moments into the second half when Alloa turned the game on its head and took the lead.

Buchanan drifted to the right and picked the ball up before squirming it towards the penalty spot. O’Hara’s scuff could have gone anywhere but Trouten was on hand – as he so often is – to fire past Derek Gaston for his second goal of the season.

Gaston was left helpless at both attempts but had to stretch his giant frame to stop Buchanan making it three shortly after and surely killing the game.

Just like in the first half, however, the bulk of the attacking play notably swung the way of Arbroath halfway through and they eventually forced home an equaliser in the most unfortunate way.

Henry had momentarily kept the hosts out with a couple of timely interventions but the youngster will have looked in horror as a hopeless cross from Jason Thomson picked up pace in the Angus wind and sailed into the back of the net.

It was a blow, but one Alloa once again quickly recovered from with a goal so similar to the first two you could have just copied and pasted the previous description. This time the protagonists were substitutes Andy Stirling and Robert Thomson with Trouten on hand to net the winner.

Arbroath understandably as the home side with dying hopes of securing an unlikely last-16 place poured forward, but Henry’s goal remained untroubled and it was Alloa who could have made it four.

Thomson and Stirling both went close, but neither could find their first competitive goal in black and yellow.

ALLOA: Henry, Robertson, Taggart, Dick, Graham, Brown, Cawley, Flannigan, Buchanan, Trouten, O'Hara. SUBS: Thomson, Hetherington, O'Donnell, Stirling, Gillespie, Murray, Wilson.