Danny Strachan was brought in to replace Max Gillies who was unavailable due to illness with Blue Toon fans welcoming Enock Walusimbi to Balmoor for the first time. Alloa forced a corner in the first minute with Peterhead seeing that off before creating danger of their own six minutes later. A Julien Carre corner bounced into the visitors’ box and there were unsuccessful appeals for a penalty after it looked to have hit Taggart’s arm before Ryan Dow fired wide from the of the box. In the following minute David Wilson denied Connor Sammon a shooting chance with Peterhead racing to the other end and Conor O’Keefe was only inches out when he flicked a whipped in Michael Hewitt cross towards Hogarth’s goal.
Sammon had a header clutched by Tom Ritchie on 16 with Jack Wilkie showing dogged determination seven minutes later as he raced back to rob Luke Donnelly as he bore down on goal. On 28 minutes it looked like Peterhead had taken the lead when Wilson turned the ball in after a Walusimbi header from a Dow corner was pushed out by Hogarth. Home celebrations were however cut short after offside was given against O’Keefe.
Alloa looked to make the most of the score-line still being blank with Bradley Rodden getting into a good position before firing wide. On 37 minutes Jason Brown popped up in the Alloa box and after shrugging off a challenge the defender fired for goal with Hogarth doing well to save his low effort. A minute later Peterhead came close again when Hewitt let fly from the edge of the Alloa box however the ball flew inches wide with neither side making a breakthrough before the half-time whistle.
Early into the restart Alloa’s Rodden broke forward and fell to the ground with Wilson in close attendance however referee Luke was not interested in penalty claims. On 52 minutes Walusimbi showed his class as he took the ball off Sammon on the six-yard line however two minutes later the visitors took the lead. Taggart was allowed to venture forward and cut in from the right before rolling a pass to Donnelly 16 yards out. Donnelly cleverly back-heeled the ball back into the path of Taggart who cracked a left foot shot past a diving Ritchie. The Blue Toon players looked to take that set-back on the chin and Carre came within a foot of levelling with a fierce drive on 64 minutes and five minutes later Dow tried his luck with a cheeky chip with Hogarth stretching high to save.
As the hosts opened up in a bid to get an equaliser Alloa looked to pick them off with Ross MacIver having a goal disallowed for offside before Daniel Church shot wide from close range. Hewitt was not far away with a looping header on 83 minutes before Alloa sealed their success five minutes from time when O’Donnell’s drive hit Jason Brown with the resulting deflection taking the ball out of the reach of Ritchie.
Peterhead – Ritchie, Walusimbi, Jason Brown, Wilson, D Strachan, Hewitt, Carre, Wilkie, Dow, O’Keefe (Jordon Brown 70), Jack Brown (R Strachan 78)Unused substitutes – Dixon, Asare, Scullion, Thompson (G/k), Hefzalla
Post-Match interview – Assistant manager David Nicholls – https://youtu.be/3bvOIzBxxoE
Post-Match interview – Enock Walusimbi https://youtu.be/jkUygZ9smSo
