ALLOA boss Jim Goodwin admitted he was devastated his side couldn’t hold out for a point in their Championship opener.

Ross County captain Marcus Fraser bundled home an 88th minute winner to break Wee County hearts after a terrific defensive display had helped the Wasps hold off the title chasers.

The manager insisted his players’ endeavour warranted more than a trip down the A9 empty-handed.

Goodwin told Advertiser Sport: “It is a sickener and I am just really gutted for the players. For the amount of effort and hard work they put into the game, they merited a point.

"We certainly didn’t do enough to win the game, because apart from Greig Spence’s chance in the first half we didn’t have any clear-cut opportunities.

“I thought we defended really well though. The shape was good and we managed to frustrate Ross County. We knew they had a big squad and that they’d be able to change it up.

“The goal against us was just a lapse of concentration. Both wingers matched their full-backs all game up to that point, but it was a big learning curve for young Jake Hastie, who’s been absolutely brilliant since he came in. We were lucky to get him on loan and it’s a learning curve on his way to bigger and better things.

“We were hanging on," he added. "County were certainly the better team but we knew they would. They are favourites to win the league and it was important for us to be hard to beat.

“My only frustration was that I felt we could have been better on the ball. We should have utilised the width of the pitch and put a couple more passes together.”

Goodwin admitted that the manner of the defeat highlighted just how thin on the ground his squad is, a situation not helped by an early-season injury crisis.

He is desperate to bring attacking options to the Indodrill Stadium and is hopeful of having more positive news for supporters in the coming days.

He said: “After 70 minutes or so we just ran out of steam and we don’t have the options at the moment to go and freshen things up. Kevin Cawley’s back spasmed in the warm-up and we had a couple of other injuries. Reis Peggie came on and did fine but we are lacking a few options.

“Ahmed Aloulou is hopefully going to be back by the tail end of the week and Iain Flannigan will be back after his suspension. David Galt has had a virus for the last few weeks so we are missing big players, and when you have a tight-knit squad that does have a big impact.

“We have a group of players who are quite used to winning from last season, and now we need to find out how to pick ourselves up and bounce back.

“We have got a couple that are nearly over the line but it’s not done until it’s done.

"We were hopeful of having at least one of them done by the weekend, but it wasn’t to be. Hopefully we can get something done this week.”