It took a debut that Roy of the Rovers would have been proud of to help see Alloa earn a replay at New Douglas Park in their fourth round Scottish Cup tie against Hamilton Academicals.
Eighteen-year old-stopper Paul Ferguson came off the bench in the second half to replace the injured Jamie Evans and pulled off some stunning saves to keep Alloa in the Cup.
Alloa set out their stall to defend and quickly caught Hamilton on the counter attack after only nine minutes. Former Real Mallorca player Jamie Stevenson sprinted down the right flank before reaching the touchline and squaring the ball back for Ross Hamilton six yards from goal. The striker tried his luck from six yards, but David McEwan pulled off a fantastic save to deny the hit man.
Both sides were forced into a spate of early substitutions with Jamie McArthur replacing Brian Carrigan, who suffered medial knee damage, and Iain Nicolson had to replace Mike Bolochowekyj who was knocked unconscious.
Mark Gilhaney was running riot down the left flank for Accies, and the pint-sized winger floated over a superb cross to help set up Hamilton's best chance of the half. Substitute McArthur managed to get on the end of the cross but could only head over from 10 yards when he really should have done better.
An injury to Evans just after the restart forced young Ferguson into making his debut, and despite his manager's reservations the former Ross County player showed little signs of nerves.
Both McArthur and Juanjo had long-range efforts that seemed destined for the top corner only for Ferguson to parry superbly.
It was Alloa who nearly stole a win at the death when Jamie Stevenson sneaked behind the home defence, but his shot from an angle was superbly parried by McEwan.
In the end both sides had to settle for a share of the spoils with the victor to be decided at Recreation Park on Tuesday. The winner's reward is a home tie with either Airdrie United or Dundee.