BOXING DAY is usually a day for relaxation. A day for enjoying the Christmas dinner leftovers and, maybe, another opportunity to open some extra presents.

For Alloa, there was to be none of the above. Instead, it was a trip to Airdrie. Instead of presents, it was goals. Unfortunately for the Wasps, the goals, and the three points, stayed with the hosts.

A familiar Alloa side started the match, with just a few tweaks to an otherwise settled line up. Daniel Church made a rare start at left back with Jon Robertson moving into the centre of the pitch. In the final third Cameron O'Donnell replaced Steven Boyd who missed out through injury, as did Stefan Scougall.

Whatever Alloa's gameplan was for Saturday, it went out the window probably before at least a few dozen fans had even sat down.

Mark Durnan was able to header a long ball clear but Mouhamed Niang was unable to control the ball and the Diamonds smelled blood.

Adam Frizzell picked up the ball and passed to Kerr McInroy. The Celtic loanee looked up and played a delightful through ball into the path of Callum Smith who ran in behind Andy Graham to poke the ball past the outrushing David Hutton.

Maybe when the dust settles and the wounds have healed, Alloa will be able to hold their hands up and say it was a good goal by Airdrie: strong pressing to win the ball, quick passing to break forward and a clinical finish.

However, the second goal, from an Alloa perspective, is atrocious.

A long ball from defence should have been dealt with by either of Durnan or Graham. Instead it found the run of Calum Gallagher and his first touch to control the ball allowed him to take it past Hutton who was so far from his goal it's almost unbelievable. Despite having an empty net to aim at, the angle was tight and Gallagher finished well.

Ferguson introduced Conor Sammon and Fernandy Mendy at half time in an attempt to change the outcome of the game. Within minutes after the restart Hutton made a smart save but Mendy's control of the ball forced the goalkeeper to react quickly to stop a third.

Sammon would go close to halving the deficit with a decent bit of play. Mendy headed to Church who calmy passed to Charlie Gilmour. His through ball broke the lines and Robertson was able to find Sammon out wide who was able to find a yard with a clever stepover but his shot went wide of the goal.

Alloa would put the ball in the net with Durnan heading Church's free kick past Max Currie but the defender was offside.

On the stroke of the hour a rocket from McInroy sealed the three points for his side. A terrific strike from outside the box left Hutton with no chance.

Four minutes later Euan Henderson scored a consolation for the Wasps. Once again Durnan jumped above the rest to header Church's free kick towards goal and Henderson was there to poke it into the net.

Airdrie would go on to hit the woodwork three times as they looked to increase the damage but Alloa were spared.

Sammon and Henderson both had decent efforts at goal in the dying minutes but neither could score as Airdrie sealed the three points.

Barry Ferguson's men have now played seven league matches without picking up a win, a run stretching back to October 30.

By the time they play their first game of 2022, at home to Falkirk on January 2, it will be more than two months since they picked up three points.

All involved with the club will surely say the promotion hopes are still alive however Alloa's season is currently on a downward spiral and positive results are needed immediately to salvage what could become an extremely disappointing season.