AT THIS stage of the season, Alloa need points. Saturday's performance was impressive, but one point should have been three. Those two points dropped could be crucial by the end of the season.

From the first minute to the last, Alloa dominated the game against Inverness Caley Thistle and by the time referee Alan Muir blew his whistle for half-time, the Wasps should have been three goals to the good.

Innes Cameron scored one, should have scored two and could have scored four.

Alan Trouten and Lee Connelly – the scorers in a 2-0 victory against ICT on March 7, 2020, the last game with fans in attendance – both should have scored after going one-on-one with Mark Ridgers.

More chances would fall to the hosts in the second half, but the game should have been buried by the interval.

After trialling a back five in recent games with Lucas Williamson and then Steven Hetherington in a left wing-back role, Hetherington returned to the middle of the pitch alongside Ray Grant and the home side looked much more comfortable as they reverted to their most reliable formation.

Alloa started on the front foot and two chances fell their way. The first shot of the match came from Cameron but his effort went wide of the post. Minutes later Connelly, making a rare start, struck a decent left-footed effort that forced Ridgers into a save.

The first real chance of the match fell to the visitors but David Carson's volley was saved well by Parry who smothered the ball after spilling it.

Less than a minute later, Alloa scored in a superb counter-attacking move. An ICT free-kick was headed clear by Andy Graham and collected by Trouten. He managed to wriggle away from five players to spread the ball to Cameron who switched it again to Connelly.

Connelly struggled to control the ball but it fell into the path of Kevin Cawley who, with the outside of his right boot, scooped the ball into the path of Cameron. An exquisite first touch dragged the ball from the right side of his body onto his left foot and he smashed it past Ridgers at his near post.

Cameron would showcase the attributes at his disposal minutes later when he controlled Liam Dick's long ball on his chest facing away from goal then turned as the ball dropped and he managed to get away from Robbie Deas and Brad Mckay.

He held the ball up and tried to find Trouten however the pass was cut out. The clearance fell right into the path of Trouten who played a one-two with Hetherington and found himself in the box. He tried to slot the ball underneath Ridgers when he maybe should have lifted it and the keeper saved. That would prove to be one of a number of golden chances for the home side.

The severity of the miss would be felt when Nikolay Todorov equalised less than three minutes later. A similar goal to the Trouten chance, the angle was better for Todorov and he fired the ball underneath Parry.

Alloa regrouped and got a hold of the game again and then should have retaken the lead. Trouten found himself in space just outside the box and played a clever through ball for Connelly. On his left side, he was one on one with Ridgers but again struck straight at him. Like the Trouten chance, a better option would have been to lift the ball over the outrushing keeper.

However, the best chance of them all fell to the in-form Cameron and he couldn't convert. Ridgers, attempting to play the ball out from the back from the far side of his six-yard box, passed it straight into Cameron's path. On his favoured left foot, he had an open goal to aim at and only had to pass it into the net. However, he went for power and lifted the ball well over the bar.

Alloa had a couple of half chances in the second half, however it was Parry's turn to produce some great saves. Parry, also trying to play out from the back, passed to Hetherington who tried to scoop the ball to Dick on the left side of the pitch. The pass was intercepted by Shane Sutherland and he managed to carry the ball into the middle of the park and strike towards goal but Parry managed to push it wide for a corner.

Carson managed to flick the ball towards the Alloa defence and Graham's outstretched leg couldn't reach the ball. Sutherland suddenly found himself facing Parry on his own but his effort went wide of the post.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Parry produced the save of the match. Graham was able to block the cross but only into the path of James Keatings. From six yards out, he rifled the ball towards Parry's near post and he matched the strike to stop the visitors taking the lead.

Trouten would receive a straight red card in the dying minutes for a petulant kick out at Roddy MacGregor but it would have no impact on the result.

The point leaves Alloa five adrift at the bottom of the table behind Morton, who play their game in hand away to Inverness tomorrow, March 9.

Alloa now have four home and four away games left to retain their place in the Championship next season.

If they can match the performance they produced on Saturday, the run-in will certainly be interesting.

ALLOA: Parry, Robertson, Taggart, Graham, Dick, Hetherington, Grant, Cawley, Trouten, Connelly (O'Donnell), Cameron. UNUSED SUBS: Willison, Buchanan, Brown, Malcolm, Murray, Jamieson