Alloa Athletic v Peterhead
Alloa Athletic 5 Peterhead 0
A Peterhead side short of bodies and short of confidence went down 5-0 at Alloa with the Blue Toon suffering a poor start to the game from which they never recovered. Balmoor boss Jim McInally had to rule out Andy McDonald and Ola Adeyemo from his squad due to injury with Ryan Dow dropping to the bench due to illness. Robbie Scullion was also listed as a substitute after a starting role last weekend with Danny Strachan, Jordon Brown and Robbie McGale coming in from the first whistle with new signing, striker Christiano Kisuka, also starting. Max Gillies, who had scored in the last two games from a full back role, was pushed into midfield in a bid to take Peterhead further up the pitch however before the plan had time to bed in the visitors found themselves a goal down through a self-inflicted wound. With just 41 seconds gone Danny Strachan rolled a pass straight into the path of Alloa’s Bradley Rodden on the half-way line and the midfielder released Connor Sammon with a through pass. The striker ran clear, looked up and then slotted past the advancing Jack Newman from the edge of the box. Alloa looked to quickly grab a second and Rodden headed wide from six yards after six minutes. On 13 minutes the Wasps doubled their advantage when Cameron O’Donnell’s corner from the right fizzed over the clutch of bodies on the goalline and George Stanger headed home from an inch out at the back post. Peterhead looked to establish a foothold in the game and a fine flick from Jordon Brown released Jack Brown on the left wing. Jack’s low driven cross looked perfect for Kisuka however the ball was taken off his toes at the last moment. Nine minutes from half-time Alloa grabbed a third goal after stopping a Peterhead attack at the edge of their own back. The ball was worked up the park by Kevin Cawley who found Ross MacIver with the striker sending Rodden charging towards Newman’s goal. It looked like Paul Dixon had retrieved the situation with a last gasp tackle however Rodden got the break of the ball and fired home. Before the break Cawley was denied by an alert Newman with manager McInally responding to the score-line at half-time by bringing on Robbie Scullion and Prince Annor Asare for McGale and Danny Strachan. Three became four on 52 minutes when the ball hit off Scullion and fell perfectly for MacIver to tee up Sammon to thump home his second goal of the afternoon. Shortly afterwards Newman did well to block Rodden’s nod towards goal with Sammon denied a hat-trick when his header clipped the bar. Six minutes from time Kisuka had a chance to mark his debut by opening his scoring account. Dixon charged forward on the left and picked out the striker who took the ball down before unfortunately sliding it wide from six yards. In injury time Newman dived to save a low MacIver drive and home substitute Luke Rankin slammed home the loose ball.
Peterhead – Newman, Wilkie (Wilson 73), Jason Brown, Dixon, McGale (Scullion 46), Danny Strachan (Asare 46), Ryan Strachan, Jordon Brown (Murray 73), Gillies, Jack Brown, Kisuka Unused substitutes – Dow, McLeod, Wood (G/k