Lichties punished after lacklustre performance

Arbroath manager Dick Campbell admitted his side could have no complaints after Kevin O’Hara proved to be Alloa Athletic’s hero at the Indodrill Stadium.

A quick-fire double from the former Falkirk frontman, just three minutes apart in a first half largely dominated by the home side, sealed a badly-needed victory for the Wasps and dragged them to within a point of Partick Thistle at the foot of the Championship.

There should have been plenty to motivate the Red Lichties, with the possibility of a lucrative Scottish Cup encounter with Hearts on the horizon if they can squeeze past Falkirk in next week’s replay and a promotion play-off spot not beyond them.

However they were strangely outof-sorts in the opening half and left themselves with too much to do in an improved second half thanks to O’Hara’s brace.

Campbell said: “The second goal was a brilliant finish from the boy O’Hara and I don’t think we treated the opposition with respect.

“Alloa deserved to win the game, end of story. They scored two good goals and they won it.

“We’ve probably had 75% of the possession in the second half but we didn’t really create anything, so I’ve not got any excuses.

“O’Hara was the difference between the two teams.”

Eyeing the possibility of moving closer to a top-four berth, Arbroath – who handed new recruit Dale Hilson his debut from the start – travelled south seeking to make the most of this fixture, hastily rescheduled after being rained off 10 days previously.

But they were second best throughout the majority of the first half and traipsed in for the interval with it all to do.

O’Hara was the star for Alloa with his second double in two games, following his brace against Inverness Caley Thistle in

Saturday’s Scottish Cup defeat. The 21-year-old was in the right place at the right time to bundle in the opener in the 24th minute.

Iain Flannigan’s corner from the left was flicked on at the near post and O’Hara was on hand to convert from point-blank range.

Just three minutes later, the youngster drilled in a magnificent second after Blair Malcolm’s threaded pass picked him out.

Bobby Linn came within a whisker of the equaliser for Arbroath just a minute after O’Hara’s breakthrough but his curling shot crashed back off the crossbar.

Hilson had Jamie MacDonald scrambling with a shot on the turn that just scraped the wrong side of the bar as the Angus outfit finally found some rhythm with half-time approaching.

They knew they would have to improve after the interval and 20 minutes into the half they almost pulled one back.

Some concerted pressure saw the ball fall kindly for Thomas O’Brien following a corner but MacDonald was equal to his shot.

Hilson’s follow-up header dropped agonisingly over and then Omar Kader’s late effort was too straight to find the net.

Alloa manager Peter Grant said: “I’m delighted with the victory. In the first half we were excellent as a team but we made it a bit more difficult for ourselves in the second half.”

Attendance: 765

Alloa: MacDonald, Robertson, Taggart, Deas, Dick, Cawley, Flannigan, Hetherington, Blair Malcolm (Connelly 82), Thomson (Buchanan 80), O’Hara. Subs not used: Trouten, Gilhooley, O’Donnel, Wilson.

Arbroath: Gaston, Thomson, O’Brien, Little, Hamilton, Linn (Donnelly 75), Virtanen, Murphy (Chalmers 75), Stewart (Kader 75), Hilson, McKenna. Subs not used: Jamieson, Whatley, Gold, Swankie. Ref: Craig Napier

Kevin O’Hara, left, who netted both of the Alloa goals.