Arbroath 0 Alloa Athletic 3

Last updated : 02 October 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Alloa deservedly won this basement battle to put some breathing space between themselves and Arbroath at the foot of division two.

Alloa had the advantage of playing with the Gayfield Park wind in the first half and controlled the early proceedings. A neat one-two between Stuart Callaghan and Andy Brown opened up the Arbroath defence, and Neil Inglis did well to push Brown's shot wide for a corner.

Alloa went on to force six corners before the break, and from an in-swinging Callaghan corner Michael Daly should have scored but headed wide from two yards.

Arbroath's only chance of the first half was a Stuart MacDonald free-kick that curled just wide from 20 yards. However, despite their dominance, Alloa's first goal had more than a touch of fortune about it. A speculative effort by Callaghan struck John Cusick leaving the stranded Inglis helpless and the home side a goal down.

After the interval, Alloa continued to look the more dangerous side and doubled their lead after 52 minutes. A swift counter attack resulted in a Dougie Hill cross only being half cleared by Chris McLeod, and Callaghan side-footed home from the edge of the box.

Callaghan was unlucky not to hit his hat-trick when Kevin McMullen cleared his in-swinging corner on to his own bar. However, with seven mintues remaining, Alloa wrapped up the game. A Callaghan corner again struck the bar and appeared to bounce off Steven Rennie and into the net, although Callaghan is claiming the goal.