ALLOA significantly improved from their opening League Cup performance as they beat Brechin City 3-1 to go second in Group F.

Andy Graham made three changes from the team who drew 0-0 last Tuesday against East Fife, the first being Morgyn Neill coming into defence.

Neill replaced David Devine, who was forced off holding his hamstring in the opening game, while Steven Hetherington returned from suspension in midfield.

Cammy O’Donnell dropped to the bench, with Kevin Cawley retaining his space but instead utilised on the left wing.

Luke Rankin made his first competitive start to the season, replacing Conor Sammon in leading the line.

Brechin, who sat rock bottom in Group F following back to back defeats against St Johnstone and Morton, came out the traps looking to hurt Alloa early.

The Wasps weathered the storm and got their first goal after Calum Waters launched a ball towards Rankin, who chased it, got a touch and was taken clean out by Brechin’s keeper Lenny Wilson.

Scott Taggart made no mistake from the spot, firing Alloa into an early lead and scoring the first goal of the 24/25 campaign.

Graham was delighted with his side’s performance after Brechin started strongly, praising Luke Rankin for winning the penalty.

“Much better result,” Graham told WaspTV. “But also a much better performance as well.

“It wasn’t just the result that pleased, we want to win every game we go into but I was more pleased with the performance, especially after the first 20 minutes.

“Brechin came out really strongly as we knew we would – I’ve watched their games against St Johnstone and Morton and I knew they’d come flying out the traps because that’s what they do.

“They were good for the first 20, 25 minutes but once we dealt with that better and started passing the ball more, we looked a much better threat.

“That’s what Luke does, he brings that sharpness and it’s a good ball by Calum Waters to put it into space.

“Luke makes it a ball by nicking it past the goalkeeper, it’s a penalty and it’s really well dispatched by Scott Taggart.

“That really settled us down, even then it did take us 20, 25 minutes for us to start playing the way I wanted them to play.

“They were good after that, we really started to take control of it and we had a couple of good passes and good moves.”

During the second half, traffic continued to be mainly focussed toward Brechin’s goal, PJ Morrison reduced to a mere bystander for the majority.

Kevin Cawley doubled Alloa’s lead with a superb strike after drifting through midfield and firing past the keeper.

In doing so, he became the only Alloa player ever to score in 13 different seasons, since he joined the club in 2011.

The last Alloa goal of the day again came from a perfect ball from Waters, finding Rankin at the back post who took it on the half volley to fire past Wilson.

Brechin City’s Marc Scott pulled a consolation goal back for his side but it wasn’t enough to take anything from the game, their last effort being a free kick which soared past Alloa’s goal.

Graham continued: “During the second half, we came into our own and started to dominate and move the ball better, create more chances and it’s really good to get the win and get the three points.”

“The second and third goals are really good as well, we know what Kev Cawley can bring and his performance, take the goal out of it, was very good.

“I don’t like singling people out, I thought there were a lot of strong performances in there, even from guys coming on to make an impact, all itching to get on the pitch.”

Results around the group meant that Alloa shot up to second place in the group, currently sitting in the potential qualifier position.

Tuesday’s opponents St Johnstone beat Morton 2-0, keeping them in top position by just a point.

For Andy Graham, he was only focusing on what was in front of him, but will now be finalising preparations for the visit of the Saints on Tuesday.

Graham added: “We focused on today and that’s exactly what we did, we got the three points and we focus on Tuesday.

“We focus on St Johnstone and we see what happens there, we can’t start planning based on how other teams are doing.

“It’s all about the squad and how they’re responding to what we’re asking them to do and today was much improved from Tuesday, not just the result but the performance as well.”