FOR the second league match in a row Alloa finished a game with 10 men.

For the second league match in a row Alloa lost.

Losing a player does not mean a defeat is imminent but when a team goes down to 10 men before half-time it creates an unnecessary mountain to climb.

If Mouhamed Niang’s red card against Cove Rangers was early, David Hutton at least almost made it to the interval. However, two quick yellow cards saw the keeper dismissed and 17-year-old Keir Burt entered the pitch.

Unfortunately for the youngster his first touch of the ball was when he was picking it out of his own net after Scott Brown’s penalty.

Alloa started the game brightly and with a front three of Kevin Cawley, Euan Henderson and the in-form Steven Boyd, plus Stefan Scougall buzzing around behind them, there was plenty of fluidity in their movement.

The first goal of the match came with the front three all playing their part. Charlie Gilmour was able to pass the ball forward and Peterhead let their former player Boyd turn and drive towards goal. He played the ball wide to Cawley who fired it back into the middle of the pitch.

A clever touch from Henderson laid it into the path of Boyd and he converted first time with a low left foot drive.

After taking the lead, Alloa took their foot off the gas and then when their opportunities did come, they couldn’t convert.

Eventually the visitors equalised. A poor clearance by Adam King gave the ball straight to Andrew McCarthy. His low cross into the box was met at the front post by Niah Payne and he prodded the ball past Hutton.

Shortly after this, Hutton would depart the pitch. After picking up a yellow card for a tussle in the box, he spilled Brown’s shot and Payne pounced. He was able to lift the ball over the outrushing goalkeeper who brought him down in the process and was shown a second yellow.

Burt would dive the right way but the penalty from Brown was placed well into the bottom corner and the youngster just couldn’t get close enough to it.

Despite two blows in quick succession, Alloa bounced back immediately with a great move.

From the restart, Adam King passed to Scott Taggart who found Gilmour. The loanee showed great determination to prod the ball to Scougall, who done what he does best and skipped past two players.

Scougall’s attempted pass to Boyd was just behind him however it was picked up by a marauding Daniel Church.

The left-back took one touch to set himself before whipping a great cross into the box and Gilmour met it and smashed it into the net.

Alloa made it to half-time on level terms and would have hoped to see the game out, however a silly mistake saw the hosts give the Blue Toon a free hit to equalise which they didn’t refuse.

A harmless ball into the box missed everywhere and Church, whether it was a lack of communication or concentration, headed the ball out for a corner.

A decent ball into the box was met by substitute Russell McLean, easily the tallest player on the park, and he headed it past Burt into the far corner.

From that moment on it was all about game management from Peterhead as they slowed the ball down and passed around the Alloa players.

Another Peterhead corner would once again be met by the head of McLean but his effort rattled the crossbar and left Alloa with just one goal needed to equalise.

The visitors wouldn’t have to wait long to double their advantage and once again Church played a part in the goal for the wrong reason.

The left-back was the only outfield player in Alloa’s half and he had a set-piece to deliver into the box, with every man around the edge of Peterhead’s box. Unfortunately his delivery floated straight into the arms of Brett Long and the keeper was able to launch another counter-attack.

The ball found its way over to Peterhead’s right side where Josh Mulligan had been causing Alloa problems all day. The right-back cut inside and prodded the ball between Church and Mark Durnan for Payne to run onto. Mulligan continued his run and Payne was able to cut the ball back for Mulligan to finish with a first-time finish past a helpless Burt.

The result means Alloa are currently four points above the bottom of the table, however a slight glimmer of hope is the fact they are only nine points behind Queen’s Park, the league leaders, who Alloa travel to next week.

The league is tight and it’s far from over, however Alloa have to start picking up points, putting wins on the board and deal with an increasingly problematic disciplinary problem.

ALLOA: Hutton, Mendy, Durnan, Taggart (Robertson), Church, Gilmour, Scougall, King, Cawley (Burt), Henderson (Sammon), Boyd. UNUSED: Howie, Graham, O’Donnell, Lamont