JIM Goodwin admitted his players had been left devastated after a last-gasp equaliser from Queen’s Park saw his Alloa side denied victory.

Goodwin’s team had looked on course for victory but a stoppage time header from Ewan MacPherson snatched a point for the Spiders.

And the Wasps’ player-manager could not hide his disappointment following a result which saw them lose ground to Livingston in the League One title race.

Goodwin told Advertiser Sport: “It’s obviously absolutely gutting and we are extremely disappointed. Whenever you concede an equaliser with the last kick of the ball it feels like a defeat. The boys were excellent in the second half and we controlled the game for long spells but you have to give credit to Queen’s Park, who kept fighting right to the end.

“We had plenty of chances but we just didn’t kill the game off. When that happens, your opponents are always going to get chances and unfortunately for us, Queen’s Park took theirs.”

Despite the result, Goodwin praised his side’s second half performance, and lauded his players’ efforts throughout.

He said: “We didn’t play well in the first half, but in the second half we got to grips with the game. In the first half I felt we were just passing the ball for the sake of passing it, but after half time we were much more direct. We got a lot of joy.

“The boys were great and I will never fault their effort but that last kick of the ball was an absolute killer.”

With the gap to league leaders Livingston now extended to eleven points, Goodwin admitted that catching them will now be extremely difficult, but insisted that Alloa will never give up.

He added: “The gap is now eleven points with six games to go so we have to be realistic about how tough a task it will be. We won’t throw in the towel but Livingston don’t look like they are going to throw it away now. Whenever they get a bad result they always follow it up with a good one. They are relentless at the moment. We have to hope they implode. But we certainly won’t give up, and with the game against them coming up in a few weeks’ time we want to go into it with something still to play for.

“We are unbeaten in nine now and we want to carry that momentum on to the end of the season. If we have to go through the playoffs then so be it but we want to go into those games on the back of some good results.”