Raith Rovers endured 90 minutes of frustration as they passed up the opportunity to cement their place in fourth spot in the table.
The Stark’s Park pitch, deemed unplayable when this match was due to be played on Boxing Day, passed an afternoon inspection but the home players failed their examination on a night when they should have eased five points clear of Queen of the South in fifth.
An 85th-minute penalty from Iain Flannigan sealed a first victory of the reign of new Alloa manager Jack Ross, and just a second win since September for the Championship’s bottom side, and Rovers will have been left wondering how they failed to at least see out a draw.
Had it not been for wastefulness in front of goal, they would have recovered from Saturday’s Scottish Cup defeat to Hibernian and given their promotion play-off aspirations a shot in the arm.
However, following the departure of Jon Daly and Craig Wighton in recent days, they were left to rue a profligacy that ultimately cost them a morale- boosting victory.
Manager Ray McKinnon said: “It was a frustrating night. It’s obviously clear we need a goalscorer anybody in the stadium could see that. We need someone who’s really natural.
“We had chances and we should probably have had the game won and we left ourselves open to the sucker-punch, which happened tonight.
“We know what we’re needing and we’re looking hard for it, but it’s very difficult to find it. It’s not easy to get a striker that’s going to score a barrowload of goals for you. For whatever reason we’re not sticking it in the net and we’ve paid the price tonight.”
Mitch Megginson should have earned Rovers the breakthrough after just 12 minutes but screwed his four-yard header wide from Ross Callachan’s cross and thereafter it was a tale of woe in front of goal.
James Craigen had a shot deflected wide and Megginson drove past after the break before Louis Longridge, making his debut after signing on loan from Hamilton Accies, refused the chance to shoot early and saw Callachan’s effort from his deflected drive blocked on the line.
With five minutes remaining, Alloa broke at speed and Iain Davidson’s lunge inside the box was adjudged to have brought down Iain Flannigan, who picked himself up to score from the spot.
Alloa boss Jack Ross said: “I’m just delighted the players have got their rewards. They’ve had an awful lot of knocks this season and it’s human nature that you lose confidence and you lose a little bit of belief, so I’m delighted for them.”
Attendance: 1,064.
Raith: Cuthbert; Bates, Davidson, Benedictus, McKeown; Callachan, Matthews, Robertson (Court 86); Craigen, Longridge, Megginson (Stewart 66). Subs not used: Law, Petrie, McCord, Ellis, Ford.
Alloa: McNeil; Doyle, Hill (Williams 62), McKenna, Hamilton; Crawford, McAusland (McManus 58), O’Brien, Flannigan; Layne (Ferns 74), Duffy. Subs not used: Crawford, Reintam, McManus, Hetherington, Hardie.
Referee: G Aitken.