Pars held at home by Alloa Athletic

DUNFERMLINE were left frustrated by Alloa as the two sides had to share the spoils at East End Park.

Adam Brown fired in a rocket from distance for the visitors after the break before Kyle Turner levelled matters.

Kevin Nisbet headed off the bar and put another wide late on but the Pars couldn't find a winner.

Stevie Crawford was able to enjoy a rare league victory last week when his side comfortably put Partick Thistle to the sword with a 3-0 win, ending a miserable run of form.

Ryan Dow, Nisbet and Turner found the net to lift Dunfermline off the bottom of the Championship table after a winless run of five games.

Lee Ashcroft took the captain's armband for this one as Paul Paton dropped out of the squad with injury. Hearts loanee Harry Cochrane came in for his first start in Pars colours.

Lewis McCann replaced Gabby McGill up top to partner Nisbet.

Prior to the match at Firhill, they hadn't won in the league since March 9 where they beat today's opponents Alloa Athletic.

It's not been an easy start in the dugout for Peter Grant in the Alloa dugout this season. He was without talisman Alan Trouten last week as Ayr United ran riot over the Wasps.

Trouten has a penchant for scoring at East End Park with five goals in his last four games.

He was the man responsible for Alloa's only league win of the campaign so far against Queen of the South in Dumfries.

After beating Dunfermline in the Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Cup on the road, boss Grant would have been hoping for his men to get their second three points of the season on the board as they made the short journey to Fife on league duty.

He would have breathed a huge sigh of relief after less than a minute when Nisbet blasted wide after excellent play by McCann.

He pestered Robbie Deas in the channel as the centre-back tried to usher the ball out of play for a goal-kick. McCann wouldn't let up though and won the ball cleanly. He squared it neatly across the box to Nisbet who - with little pressure - fired past the post with keeper Jamie MacDonald out of position and struggling to recover. 

Deas was having an eventful start to the match as he then denied McCann with a brave block. The striker had twisted his way into the box before letting fly only to see the defender's body keep the effort out on 10 minutes.

The young centre-back was being targeted by the Pars early as Turner released a ball over the top for Nisbet to chase. Deas brought down the striker and was lucky to escape without a card.

From the resulting Josh Edwards free-kick the ball broke to Turner on the edge of the area and his low effort deflected off the feet of Greg Kiltie and into the hands of the relieved MacDonald.

Kiltie weaved his way past a couple of white shirts but couldn't get the ball out of his feet quickly enough to release and test MacDonald. The ball broke to Nisbet and once again Deas was in the way to clear.

The goalless scoreline at the break was perhaps a fair reflection of the first half. Although the Pars had the chances and were the better side, they never tested MacDonald. At the other end, Alloa were getting into good positions but failing to create.

A moment of magic came minutes after the restart as the visitors went ahead in stunning fashion.

Adam Brown - who wasn't supposed to start the game - cut inside from Alloa’s left flank and from 25 yards out he blasted a right-footed piledriver into the top corner past the outstretched Cammy Gill. It was a fantastic strike on 49 minutes which earned an ovation from several Dunfermline fans.

Liam Dick was injured in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Brown before kick-off, and the ex-Motherwell winger took full advantage of his chance.

The lead didn't last long as Turner equalised for the Pars on 56 minutes.

The midfielder's attempt outside the box found its way into the net with a shot which completely wrong-footed MacDonald in goal.

The ball fell invitingly to the midfielder who guided it in while off-balance.

The game entered into a stalemate before the introduction of Josh Coley livened things up.

He was released down the left and his low cutback was superbly dealt with by Deas under his own crossbar for a corner with Nisbet waiting to pounce.

Turner whipped in a perfect delivery from the set-piece that followed and an unmarked Nisbet met it flush.

His header cannoned off the crossbar and over with Alloa caught napping on 78 minutes.

Nisbet would rise highest again at the back post with a couple of minutes left on the clock but he couldn't get the required contact or direction to find a late winner.

PARS: Gill, Comrie, Martin, Ashcroft, Edwards, Dow (Coley 77), Turner, Cochrane, Kiltie, McCann (Beadling 74), Nisbet.

Subs not used: Scully, Devine, Morrison, Bowman, Todd.

Bookings: Turner, Cochrane.

Goal: Turner (56)

Alloa: Macdonald, Taggart, Graham, Deas, Robertson, Cawley, Hetherington, Flannigan, Brown, Trouten, O'Hara (Buchanan 85).

Subs not used: Henry, O'Donnell, Gillespie, Gilhooly, Thomson.

Bookings: Flannigan, Deas.

Goal: Brown (49)

Referee: Colin Steven

Attendance: 3,496