ALLOA’S SPFL Trust Trophy journey came to an end on last week as they were defeated 4-2 by Queen of the South.

On a freezing Friday night the Wasps were looking for a repeat of the teams’ previous meeting when Alloa rallied from going a goal behind to win 5-1.

The starts to those games could hardly have been similar. Barely two minutes were on the clock when former Alloa man Lee Connelly glided past Andy Graham before firing the ball past Jay Hogarth.

With their tails up after the goal another half chance fell the way of Harry Cochrane who took aim from distance but Graham was out quickly, threw his body on the line and blocked the effort.

Alloa’s first chance of the match went to youngster Steven Buchanan. Hogarth’s long ball wasn’t dealt with by the Queens defender and Buchanan, handed a rare start, smashed a good strike at goal that forced Max Currie into his first save of the match.

After a quarter of an hour the Wasps equalised.

Ross MacIver, as he so often does, won his flick on and the ball fell to Conor Sammon who, despite being bundled to the ground, somehow laid the ball off for Adam King who hit a terrific half volley into the bottom corner.

Currie had no chance and the teams were now level.

A poor pass by Cammy O’Donnell gifted possession back to the visitors and Wullie Gibson pushed forward. Eventually the ball was delivered and Ruairi Paton found himself at the back post. He managed to direct a header back towards goal but Graham was there to clear the ball off the line.

Five minutes before the break and the Wasps went in front.

Kevin Cawley played a nice little one-two with Scott Taggart before drifting inside.

Given far too much time, he was able to lift his head and fire a rocket of a strike into the far post. Currie was rooted to the spot and watched it sail past him as Cawley recorded his first goal of the season.

It took the visitors around two minutes to go in front in the first half.

After going into the break a goal down, it took them around three minutes to level the score. A decent delivery by Josh Todd found Ciaran McKenna in the box and he directed a header back across the face of goal.

Alloa had their first clear chance to go back in front minutes later.

Daniel Church, positive again, skipped past his man with ease before driving towards the edge of the box. He delivered a great cross that was met by Sammon but he could only fire his header over the bar.

From six yards out he really should have been hitting the target.

Another great chance would fall Alloa’s way after a quick counter.

Hogarth found King after collecting Todd’s long range effort and King drove forward before spreading the ball wide to Church. Again, Church strode forward and delivered a cross which took a deflection and fell invitingly into Buchanan’s path. The youngster’s side-foot effort was tame and it was an easy save for Currie.

Alloa continued to ask questions of Queens.

Mark Durnan, a welcome addition to the matchday squad, showed great feet to get out of a tight situation before MacIver and Sammon played a one-two that gave MacIver space to drive forward.

Eventually he laid the ball off to King but his effort didn’t trouble Currie.

Buchanan had another good chance to score on the hour mark. The formula from earlier almost repeated itself: Hogarth went long, MacIver flicked the ball on and Sammon cleverly lifted it over the top for Buchanan.

The striker just couldn’t sort his feet out quickly enough and his eventual effort was blocked for a corner.

From the resulting corner King’s clipped delivery was met by Durnan who smashed a header into the ground which bounced off the crossbar.

It began to feel like it was going to be one of those nights for Alloa as they continued to waste great chances.

This time a great move saw substitute Bradley Rodden’s cross collected by Sammon and again he played provider to lay it off for MacIver but his first time shot was collected by Currie.

After spurning a handful of good chances, Alloa found themselves behind. Connelly went down in the box under a soft challenge by Durnan and he made no mistake from the spot with Hogarth diving the wrong way.

Another golden chance would fall Sammon’s way, this time getting on the end of MacIver’s cross but he sliced his shot and Currie caught the ball as it fell from the sky.

Queens would seal their place in the next round 10 minutes from time. Gibson’s long range effort crashed off the bar and Todd was on hand to head into an empty net.

The Wasps return to league action this weekend as they host Falkirk.

Three points would see Wasps go above their opponents in the table and could potentially see them sitting third.

ALLOA: Hogarth, Taggart, Church, O’Donnell (Durnan), Miller (Scougall), Cawley, Graham (Howie), King, Sammon (Rankin), MacIver, Buchanan (Rodden)