Brechin City’s season came to an end at Recreation Park on Saturday despite a 1-0 victory over the home side in the second leg of the Championship play-off semi-final.
Trailing 2-0 from Wednesday night’s first-leg tie, City had to score three goals in order to get through to the final.
That they came within a whisker of taking the tie to extra-time will be of little consolation to the City players who put everything into a match they might well have won if they had had a little rub of the green.
City manager Ray McKinnon could barely conceal his disappointment.
“I’m really hurting just now as I don’t think anyone who watched the match would deny that we deserved to take the match to extra-time,” he said.
“It was an onslaught in the second half but we just couldn’t get the ball in the net. We really could have done with a wee break but we just couldn’t get it.
“We threw everything at them to try and get that second goal but we just couldn’t score. I just couldn’t fault my players as I thought that they were excellent and I’m really hurting for them.
“We didn’t play well on Wednesday but I knew that we were more than capable of coming here and getting a victory but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
“Football can be a cruel game and so it proved today but we wish Alloa all the best in the final.”
The Wasps scorned two golden opportunities within the first half-hour with Iain Flannigan firing a shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy in the 20th minute and Michael Chopra blasted wide from a great position eight minutes later.
However, City fought back and Andy Jackson fired a superb 20-yard drive inches past the post just after half an hour and on the stroke of half-time Alan Trouten was desperately unlucky when he picked up a defensive clearance at the edge of the box and let fly with a cracking right-foot drive which came crashing back off the crossbar.
City had by far the bulk of possession and pressure after the break with Trouten, Bobby Barr and Robert Thomson all coming close to opening the scoring but it wasn’t until the 80th minute that they finally breached what hitherto had been a resolute Wasps rearguard with a superbly worked goal.
Jamie Mason picked up the ball just within the Alloa half and quickly released Barr who made ground on the right before delivering a superb cross deep into the home penalty-box for Trouten who swept the ball home.
City then laid siege to the Alloa goal in the final minutes but they just couldn’t grab the goal that would have taken the tie to extra-time.