As usual, we made things difficult for ourselves against a lower league side and came close to messing things up. For once, we overcame the setback of an equaliser and managed to stay in the cup.
Saints boss Gus MacPherson rang the changes for this game, with four alterations to the side that started against Kilmarnock. Chris Innes, Steven Robb, Allan Johnston and Steven Thomson all made their way into the team, with John Potter, Hugh Murray, David Barron and Stephen O'Donnell the ones to make way. The inclusion of Innes and Thomson were expected, but Johnston and Robb starting was a major surprise - especially at the expense of Murray and Barron. Alloa fielded former Saint Scott Walker in their team, with dangerous striker Brian Carrigan only on the bench.
Saints started slowly and Alloa had a couple of decent chances, Chris Townsely seeing a knock down cleared before John Grant's long range shot ended up in Paul Gallacher's arms. That perhaps woke Saints up a bit, with Johnston going close to connecting with an Andy Dorman cross before the resulting corner fell to Stephen McGinn, only for the midfielder's shot to be blocked by Scott Buist. Alloa were more than matching Saints and Stuart Noble passed up a chance when he duffed it at Gallacher, perhaps not realising he had enough time to pick his spot before shooting.
The tension in the home support was beginning to build as Alloa continued to frustrate and look the more likely side to score. Fortunately, after 26 minutes, the pressure lessened slightly when Jack Ross crossed for Billy Mehmet to head in the opener via the post. It was probably not a lead we deserved, but there were few complaints at the goal.
Instead, the complaints were reserved for Alloa's equaliser seven minutes later. It was far, far too simple - Mark Gilhaney racing onto a ball down the left, seeing Thomson slip then cutting the ball back for Mark Brown to score. The home crowd were not impressed, and they were even less impressed at the lack of response to conceding a goal as Alloa, buoyed by their leveler, kept up the pressure in an attempt to find a second. With the fans getting increasingly restless as stoppage time began, Dargo headed softly into Crawford's arms before being rather more useful when he squared for Mehmet to restore the lead with a shot from the edge of the box.
Game over? Not a bit of it. We picked up in the second half where we'd been for most of the first and nearly allowed the Wasps to equalise almost immediately as Andrew Scott slid the ball through for Gilhaney, but he looked unconvincing as he raced towards goal and allowed Gallacher to save. His opposite number was called into action when Mehmet had a shot from range, but it was never likely to cause him any problems. Lee Mair's header from a Dorman corner could have caused him problems had it been on target instead of over the bar.
The game settled down a bit after that, with Saints able to get forward but not able to do much once there. Alloa were still threatening on occasion, but the attacks were becoming rarer. Michael Higdon - on for Dargo - had a couple of chances to finish things off just after his arrival when he his shot was turned behind by Crawford before he nodded the resulting corner just wide. Fortunately, with three minutes to left, Mehmet did rather better when Shuggy sent him through, rounding Crawford before tucking the ball into the empty net to complete his hat-trick. He even had a chance for a fourth, his thunderbolt from miles out forcing Crawford to look sharp and tip the ball behind for a corner. Thankfully, we weren't maid to pay - Mehmet's hat-trick was more than enough to send us through.
Dunfermline put seven goals past a team from a lower league, yet we huffed and puffed and eventually managed three. It was not a great performance and Alloa must be fieling a bit frustrated not to have got a second goal. They worked incredibly hard and caused us a fair number of problems, but aside from Gilhane's effort at the start of the second half they didn't really create anything of note.
Much improvement is needed from us if we're to get some more league points. Another effort like that against Aberdeen during the week will end in disaster. On the plus side, Mehmet ended a goal drought that’s lasted since mid-October – and he got the first hat-trick at the new ground.