ALLOA manager Barry Ferguson said his team were "excellent" as they defeated East Fife 3-1.

Goals from Steven Boyd either side of Conor Sammon's strike were enough to see off the visitors despite a scare in the second half.

Asked if he got the reaction he wanted after the defeat to Peterhead, Ferguson said: "Yeah, apart from the first 15 minutes of the second half. I thought the first half we dominated the game, no doubt about that. then we were a wee bit wobbly, they scored the goal and we felt a bit sorry for ourselves but I was just waiting for a reaction and I got that and then once we get the second goal I always thought we were going to be in control. Great we get the third goal and we seen out the game out pretty well which is what I want.

"As I said, we controlled the game, the only thing I'm disappointed in is the first 15-20 minutes of the second half but, as I said last week, that's not my team that was up at Peterhead, we didn't compete, we were second to every ball and we got what we deserved last week.

"I asked for a reaction, I had a long chat with them and I got that on Tuesday and Thursday and then [on Saturday] with a great result against East Fife who got a great result last week."

Two of Ferguson's signings in Boyd and Sammon finally got their first goals for the club and he was delighted to see the hard work pay off.

He continued: "We're solid enough defensively but we need to create more opportunities. We did create good opportunities [on Saturday] and we got three goals. That's something that we've worked really hard on and it's not going to happen overnight, got to do a lot of work with them. It's a new group, they're getting used to the way I want to play and operate but we'll get there and we'll get there through hard work."

A new formation was utilised on Saturday but Ferguson insists that isn't an indication of how he plans to move forward.

"Mark Durnan's not trained for three weeks due to Covid," Ferguson said. "He came in and was excellent. [Fernandy Mendy] hasn't played for eight weeks, I know he played against Peterhead but he'd had one training session so he's missed a full pre-season and you see the numbers on the bench: I'm missing Alan Trouten through a hamstring problem, Kevin Cawley, Jon Robertson, Ben Armour. They're big players, they're guys who can compete to get into the starting 11 so look, the guys who were out there done ever so well and the most important thing was I got a reaction."

Ferguson admitted there are no new signings on the way at the moment, but hopes to have some returning from injury on Saturday.

He said: "The market's slow in terms of loans at the moment. I'm always trying to improve, if players do become available and they suit the way we want to play, we'll try and maybe do something. I'm hopeful we'll have one or two back in contention for next Saturday."

Ferguson was happy to see his team bounce back how he wanted after the Peterhead performance.

He continued: "I just demand hard work, I know you can have bad results and have a bad game but one thing I demand is my players work hard and I just thought we didn't do that [against Peterhead] but you seen [on Saturday] they gave me a great reaction, I thought their work rate was excellent and at times we played some real good stuff."

Stefan Scougall was immense on Saturday and Ferguson says he's looking to build his team around him.

"I put him in a different position, I think a lot of Scougs," he continued. "I think he's got fantastic ability but one thing I love about him is his work rate. His work rate's phenomenal, you look at him, he's about eight stone wet but one thing about him is he gives me everything.

"Aligned with that he's got fantastic ability so I need to get a position that I can build my team around a player like him because he's fantastic to work with – as all the boys are – but he's got ability and he's a match winner and when he plays like that he's a match for anyone in this league."

Despite an impressive performance, Ferguson says there are no guarantees about who will start each week.

He said: "I believe you've got to work hard to get in the team, I don't want guys knowing that by turning up they're guaranteed to play.

"I like competition for places, I think it's healthy, and once I get everybody back fit and maybe add one or two, we will have a healthy squad and people fighting for places and I think that's what you need if you want to challenge at the top.

"I want players to take responsibility, I like players who take responsibility. Against Peterhead it was unacceptable, the performance and result and I had a horrible couple of days after that.

"I got a brilliant reaction [last] Tuesday and Thursday and [on Saturday] we were excellent at times."

ALLOA: Hutton, Mendy, Graham, Durnan, Taggart, King, Howie, Church, Scougall, Sammon, Boyd. Unused: McDowall, Webster, Lamont, O'Donnell, Armstrong, Taylor