First of all, what a support. Robbie Horn’s men were serenaded onto the park at the Indodrill by hundreds of booming travelling Rose supporters - who remained in fine voice throughout. The chanting appeared to either boost Bonnyrigg or unsettle Alloa as a chance fell our way in the opening 20 seconds.

Keiran McGachie rose highest to knock a long ball into the feet of Ross Gray, who managed to jink his way through the opposition backline into the box. An opportunity presented itself to either himself or George Hunter to slam the ball past David Hutton from a dozen yards out, but both forwards left the ball for each other, allowing a flustered Alloa defence to hastily clear their lines.

Unfortunately, a promising start was soon eradicated as Mouhamed Niang put the hosts in front after 13 minutes. A whipped corner towards Rose’s front post was met by a darting run from the forward who, to his credit, fantastically looped the ball over everyone in his path with an improvised mid-air backheel flick. To concede such a freak goal was disappointing but despondency really set in seven minutes later...

The Wasps were persistent in their press and cutting with their passing, so it seemed only a matter of time before a second goal came. In-form Hearts loanee Euan Henderson was sent through on goal after some great fluid passing play from the hosts and made no mistake in doubling the home side’s lead.

With half time imminent, the Rose battled to fight their way back into the tie but still struggled to create any clear-cut chances. McGachie had the best chance of the first 45, when some excellent team play from a half-dozen Rose bodies around the opposition box eventually found the big man in the middle - though his shot was well blocked by his marker.

The home side were inches away from a third when Jon Robertson latched onto a low cross in the area and shook the crossbar with his deceptively powerful side-footed effort. Dean Brett then came to the rescue when a rebound opportunity threatened the Rose goal.

The start of the second half was a near-replica of the first as the Rose again came agonisingly close to finding the net. A failed clearance from a wide Lee Currie free-kick fell smack bang in the middle of the mixer, resulting in a goalmouth scramble that (I think) Neil Martyniuk couldn’t make the most of as his stabbed effort was hesitantly collected by Hutton.

Determined to make amends for the two-goal deficit, Rose kept plugging away at Alloa and largely dominated the beginning of the second half. A massive penalty shout, protested by both the fans and the players, was waved away by the referee just shy of the hour mark when George Hunter twisted and turned past Fernandy Mendy, forcing the burly centre-half to seemingly drag the forward down to the ground.

Despite pinning the hosts back for the opening 15 minutes of the second half, the Rose soon relinquished control. Mikey Andrews was chaoticly called into action three times in quick succession as the power started to shift back towards the home side.

A curling effort from Niang forced a fine outstretched parry for the first stop. The second save came from the ensuing corner as a bullet header required a lightning-quick reaction stop, before the third came from the immediate rebound as the strike struck the crossbar and was slapped away by Andrews before it could cross the line.

This triple chance set the tone for the remainder of the match, sadly. As the Rose pushed men forward in search of a way back into the tie, it left the backline exposed to the exceptionally quick goalscoring pair Henderson and Niang. With twenty minutes remaining, the floodgates opened.

A long clearance punt was pursued by Henderson and Alan Horne, with the former coming out on top as he skipped beyond our last line of defence and fired the ball beyond a helpless Andrews.

Henderson was at it again not long later when a breakaway down the right flank was finished off by the forward from close range. The loanee was neatly played in, managed to hold onto the ball after bouncing off his marker and slammed home to clinch his well-earned hat-trick.

The heavy loss was compounded by Niang’s second goal of the game in the final minute. The Rose were again caught lacking in numbers at the back, allowing Niang to race clear of Dean Brett before coolly slotting home Alloa’s fifth.

A deflating result no doubt against third-tier opposition to knock us out of the Scottish Cup, but our attention now turns back to the league as we welcome Cumbernauld Colts to NDP next Saturday.

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