Airdrie’s sticky patch continued as two second-half goals consigned the Diamonds to defeat at the Indodrill.

Aaron Taylor-Sinclair replaced the suspended Cammy Ballantyne in the only change to the starting XI which had drawn 3-3 with Queen of the South a week ago, with academy youngster Cole Gibson called up for a place on the bench.

Despite passing the ball about well in the opening minutes, the Diamonds defence were unable to stop Conor Sammon getting his head to an eighth-minute cross, the big striker nodding straight at Dean Lyness in the Airdrie goal.

The Diamonds’ first chance fell to Charlie Telfer, but Alloa keeper Jay Hogarth gathered the midfielder’s low strike on 12 minutes.

Sammon had another go two minutes later, hooking a turning volley wide of the target before Calum Gallagher fired wide after turning quickly on a pass from player-manager Rhys McCabe.

Lewis Jamieson had to improvise on 22 minutes, and was unlucky to see his looping volley drift wide, with the home defence scrambling clear under pressure from Gallagher and Taylor-Sinclair three minutes later.

Lyness produced a fine save to deny Stefan Scougall from range midway through the half, performing further heroics just before half time as he parried a close range header which would have been denied by the linesman’s flag regardless.

After a scrappy first-half, the sides looked to be evenly-matched again after the interval, Hogarth pouncing on a Jamieson cutback before Lyness gathered Kevin Cawley’s shot with ease, but the home side took the lead on 55 minutes when striker Luke Donnelly leapt to meet a cross from the right and watched as his header looped into the top corner.

Justin Devenny came close to an equaliser eight minutes later, but was just unable to stretch enough to divert Gallagher’s head-flick home at the far post.

Taylor-Sinclair saw a right-footed volley saved on 65 minutes as the Diamonds battled to level the match, and a 74th-minute penalty claim was unlikely to be granted as substitute Gabby McGill saw his header strike a defender’s hand.

Telfer went for power as McGill laid the ball off a minute later, but his fizzing shot lacked accuracy and cleared the crossbar.

Alloa sub Ross MacIver touched home at the back post after the ball had cannoned around the Airdrie box, but the striker was clearly offside and the linesman raised his flag.

With ten minutes remaining Telfer got a good flick on Callum Fordyce’s cross, but nobody in a Diamond shirt could get the vital touch.

As Devenny fired over with five minutes remaining it looked like Donnelly’s goal would be the winner, but MacIver added considerable sheen to the scoreline two minutes later, finding space outside the box before setting himself and driving home a superb strike.

The final whistle made it five games without a win for Airdrie, who travel to Edinburgh next weekend looking to get back on track by avenging September’s heavy defeat.

Stuart Mathie at The Indodrill Stadium

Photos © John Steven. Click to view full-size.