ALLOA’S promotion hopes came to an end in South Lanarkshire as Hamilton knocked them out the playoff semi-finals.

The Wasps headed to New Douglas Park with the score all level after a 2-2 draw at the Recs on Tuesday.

Andy Graham’s side gave a truly battling performance across the full 90, first taking the lead through Quinn Coulson and for rallying together when going a goal and a man down.

Accies responded quickly after losing the early goal as Reghan Tumilty heads past PJ Morrison from a corner.

The first half was very end to end with both sides teasing the opposition goal, with nothing between the teams for the most part.

The game was turned on its head as Lewis Smith put the hosts ahead before Morgyn Neill received a red card for dissent, giving the Wasps an uphill battle heading into the second half.

On the decision, Andy Graham said: ““Is it going to help if I go and slaughter him? Nobody will feel worse than Morgyn Neill does right now but that’s football.

“It’s a crazy decision but we’ve all done things we regret in our careers and there’s no point focusing on the negative at half time.

“The talk was all about how we were going to get something out of the game and we were so close to doing that.

“If I go in there and start ranting and raving, that’s not going to help. They need to see someone that’s calm and has a plan.

“We did that in the second half and we were very unlucky not to get over the line.”

Despite being a goal and a man down, Alloa came out refocussed and worked very well to shut out Accies, who continued to pile pressure on them.

Graham’s excellent man management played a huge role in this – first taking Quinn Coulson off to bring on David Devine and balance out the back line.

Next, at half time, Stefan Scougall was replaced by Conor Sammon, leaving the Wasps a man thin in midfield but with a solid attacking presence.

This paid off as Bobby Wales fed an excellent ball through to Sammon, who fired it past Dean Lyness to draw things level.

The rest of the half was a near defensive masterclass from Alloa, who frustrated Hamilton by continuing to keep them out.

Ultimately, Accies found a way through from Akheem Rose, but the Wasps had one last good go at finding an equaliser.

Taylor Steven’s free kick from the edge of the box hit off the post and rolled along the goal line but didn’t find its way over, with the crowd on the edge of their seats in a heart-stopping moment in the game.

Graham continued: “Most of us thought it was in as we saw it from this side but it’s very unfortunate – great strike by Taylor and it just wasn’t to be today.

“The most important thing was there are lots of positives for me to take from that and I thanked them in there for all their efforts.

“It’s now about putting in place the building blocks for next season and have a right good go next year and continue the good form we’ve shown since I got the job.”

This result means Alloa will play next season in League One again and while there will be disappointment with how Saturday panned out, Andy Graham was full of praise for his side.

Alloa’s fortunes changed completely when Graham took the job in November, propelling Alloa to a third-place finish and playoff football, while getting the best out of his players.

The gaffer looked ahead to next season, and hailed his squad for their application and work rate during the campaign.

“I’m proud of them since I took over the job,” Graham said. “They’ve been nothing but exceptional in how they’ve went about their work, in how they’ve trained, they’ve bought into everything I’ve asked them to do and they’ve been outstanding.

“It can be disruptive when there’s a managerial change midway through the season especially when Brian [Rice] went to go get a better job.

“They’ve bought into everything I’ve asked them to do and today just optimised that – second half was as proud as I have been in my short managerial career so far.

“They were a different class. If you had walked into the game at half time, I don’t think you’d have known that we had 10 men.

“That’s a credit to them, it’s a credit to their work rate, the way they look after themselves and a credit to the way they play.

“We created some opportunities, we were very unlucky not to draw the game and Hamilton were always going to cause us problems in the wide areas when we had to give them up after going down to 10 men.

“I’m delighted with the performance, gutted to go out and I fully believed we could get something out of the game and I think the players did as well.

“We spoke at half time about belief and I think they showed that in the second half so disappointed to go out, but a lot of positives for us as a club.”

ALLOA XI: Morrison, Taggart, McKay, Neill (red card, 45’), Sutherland, Roberts (Buchanan, 80’), Hetherington, Steven, Scougall (Sammon, 46’), Coulson (Devine, 45’), Wales.

Unused subs: Cawley, Donnelly, Virtanen, Roy, O’Donnell, Ogayi.