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The Wasps struggled at Easter Road to get a foothold in the game and at times their play suffered from the lack of players fully fit for this fixture. Hibernian playing at home had plenty possession but lacked any real threat in front of goal, indeed their goals both had a touch of fortune to them.

The opening goal after 27 minutes was after Alloa defender Ben Gordon slipped on the surface, he was not the only player to lose his footing on the pitch, Jason Cummings rifled in a shot which Craig McDowall did well to parry but the loose ball fell kindly for Danny Handling to knock home. Barry Smith’s side still had key players missing and although Kevin Cawley and Graeme Holmes came on midway into the second half, neither were match fit.

If the first goal had been unlucky, the second was even more fortunate – Scott Robertson’s pass across the edge of the box was aimed at Dominique Malonga, the ball struck the Congolese striker spinning high in the air over the stranded Alloa keeper Craig McDowall for a fluke. The Wasps will again return to Edinburgh next Saturday when they will face league leaders Hearts whose Head Coach Robbie Neilson was watching in the Easter Road stand.

barry smith at easter road

I think the real disappointment is we didn’t actually show the belief that we have in other games because I think we can pass the ball better, we defended well, to a point but the disappointing thing is the fact we didn’t show the belief we have in previous games. The disappointing thing is we didn’t show the same belief as we have in previous games, we defended well, we got in good areas to defend, but on the ball we just had to show a bit more belief and show more of what we are capable of doing, we created half chances, I didn’t think we created clear cut chances but that was down to not showing enough belief, we had a couple of great corners and a great free kick that if we had shown a bit more belief and determination we might have been able to score. Graeme Holmes and Kevin Cawley weren’t fully fit but it was good to get them out there for half an hour, it was good to get them back on the pitch but they were not 100% which shows just how down to the bare bones we are. The one thing about these boys is they keep working hard and from Alloa’s point of view is that we are disappointed coming to Easter Road and not performing, which shows just how far Alloa Athletic FC have came, we have to remember Hibernian were in the Premier League last season and other Premier league sides were getting beat from them, but the disappointing thing for us was we never performed. We will go to Tynescastle next Saturday with the belief we can win, that’s nothing to do with Hearts but all about Alloa, and we will make sure Alloa give a good performance and show belief and we will go there and try to win three points, the same as any game, we will look to win three points, if it were Hearts or any other side, no matter who it is we must make sure we are ready to go. We got in good areas but for the first time this season, we didn’t show the same belief and we never got on the ball and passed it as well as we can, maybe that’s credit to Hibernian as well for the way they played.