KEVIN CAWLEY shone as Alloa booked themselves a spot in the fourth round of the SPFL Trust Trophy, beating Partick Thistle 3-1.

The Alloa stalwart got himself on the scoresheet twice during the Wasps’ victory over Partick, with Scott Taggart adding a third to kill the game off.

Two changes were made by Andy Graham ahead of this game – Tochukwu Ogayi slotted in between the sticks, giving PJ Morrison a rest, while Luke Donnelly replaced the injured Stefan Scougall.

A slow start proved costly for Alloa, as Partick’s Brian Graham fired his side ahead with a strong header inside 14 minutes.

However, losing an early goal seemed to galvanise the visitors, who played much better from that moment onwards despite being behind.

The Wasps had a golden opportunity to equalise just minutes after, Luke Donnelly rising high to catch onto a good ball from Calum Waters – his header bounces off the post.

Taggart looked to replicate his stunning goal against Dumbarton with an effort from 35 yards out, but his well taken shot is just wide of the mark.

Alloa did well to prevent Thistle from adding to their lead, which could have ended the game early, going into the break.

Manager Graham said of the first half: “I actually thought we were good in the first half once Thistle scored.

“Losing the goal probably took a bit of pressure off the players – it happens a lot in football, once the players concede, all of a sudden they start to play.

“I thought we did that in the first half without having a real cutting edge – we were unlucky with the header that hits the post.”

Coming out the break, both teams looked completely different – Alloa came out the traps looking to hurt Thistle, while the hosts fell apart.

Steven Buchanan, who had a decent first half showing down the right hand side, entered into an entertaining battle against Thistle’s Harry Milne.

The youngster fully came out on top, proving to be one of Alloa’s liveliest outlets in both halves and played a key role in Alloa’s first and third goals.

Buchanan got the better of Milne just past the hour mark to send a cross into the box, it soared past Donnelly but found the waiting Cawley, who’s sublime diving header found the back of the net to draw things level.

Graham went on: “I thought the second half I thought we were really good – everything we were looking for in terms of energy and quality.

“I thought we had some really good moves – the first goal is excellent and it sums up the way that we played today.

“I’m delighted for the players, they work so hard and don’t get the credit they deserve for how good they are on the ball and that was an opportunity for them to showcase that today and they certainly did it.”

Buchanan continued to torment Milne down the channel, sending another good cross in that was unfortunately blocked and cleared by Thistle.

Ogayi took full advantage of his opportunity in the cup, making a good stop against Terry Ablade after the forward went one-on-one with Alloa’s keeper.

Taggart stood over a free kick whipped into the box, kept in the area by Morgyn Neill – Donnelly gets the ball down and flicks it behind him for Cawley who strikes the ball cleanly into the Thistle net to give Alloa a deserved lead.

“Kev’s been a brilliant servant to Alloa,” Graham continued. “He’s still a really good player.

“Last season, he was up and down – he had a change of job joining the police and he had a baby which had a big impact.

“That affected his game time and he was struggling to get used to the shift pattern and we spoke about all of that in the summer.

“This season, he’s been one of our best players – he’s been so consistent coming in off that left hand side.

“It didn’t surprise me to see him at the back post – that’s what he does so well, he’s a brilliant player getting into the box and the right areas because of his experience.

“The quality of his all round play was really good so I’m delighted with him.”

Concerns over recent weeks had been lodged about where Alloa’s goals were coming from and the loan market.

The result against Thistle – a Championship team – may do well to quell those concerns for the time being, with Cawley’s brace being his third and fourth goals of the season.

Taggart would go onto add a third after Buchanan was brought down in the box, with the Wasps captain converting the awarded penalty during the last kick of the game.

Graham added: “I’m calm in that sense that we’ve got a really good squad of players that are trying to go out there to win games of football.

“If you come to Partick Thistle and score three goals, I don’t think the first thing I’m going to think is ‘where’s the goals coming from?’

“Thistle are a really good side and for us to go and win the way we played today, we didn’t just score three goals and smash and grab it.

“We deserved to win which was a credit to the players and they way they applied themselves.”

The draw for the fourth round will take place on Tuesday, September 10, at 1pm and can be watched on the SPFL YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, Alloa now look ahead to returning to league action, with a visit of Inverness booked in for this coming Saturday.

ALLOA: Ogayi, Taggart, Waters, McKay, Neill, Virtanen, Hetherington, Buchanan, Cawley (Thomson '89), Donnelly (Nevans '89), Sammon (O'Donnell '62). UNUSED SUBS: Morrison, Graham, Mullen.