ALLOA were left to rue missed chances as they were held to a frustrating draw by Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday.

Looking to make it two Championship wins from two, the hosts dominated proceedings from start to finish on a cold and wet day in Clackmannanshire.

The closest they came was a Dario Zanatta drive that hit the bar as ultimately they failed to make their dominance count.

Buoyed by their first win of the season last week, Alloa started the game on the front foot as Zanatta twice threatened within the opening minute as he set the tone for what was to come.

And the hosts should have been ahead when Kevin Cawley found himself in behind the Caley Thistle defence from a Zanatta through ball. Mark Ridgers had to stretch down to his left to tip his rasping drive wide.

Alloa’s tails were up and all over the pitch players were snapping into tackles and recycling the ball intelligently. Iain Flannigan in particular was dominating things in midfield.

Another chance fell their way and once again Zanatta was at the heart of things. The ball broke to the big Canadian and he forced his way in the box. Turning Shaun Rooney inside out, he broke to the line and his cutback was scrambled away before the lurking Alan Troutren or Connor Shields could get on the end of it.

The half seemed to be dying out without note thereafter until a flurry of late chances for the hosts.

Shields fired just wide after a wonderful quick break involving Scott Taggart, Jon Robertson and Cawley, then Trouten lifted the ball inches over the bar after a hopeful punt from Neil Parry, before finally Zanatta’s darting run in behind saw the striker force another frantic clearance from the away side.

In between it all, Brad McKay’s audacious volley flew past Parry’s post, but it was the hosts who headed in at half time by far the happier of the two sides.

The Wasps half chances kept on coming as the game neared the hour mark. A drive on the turn from the edge of the box by Zanatta went over, before the Canadian was caught on his heels when Cawley fired the ball dangerously across the goal.

Ridgers’ goal was living a charmed life and Shields nearly found its bottom corner with an effort when he was sent clear by Trouten; who had shown wonderful composure in the middle of the park to release him.

That charm was tested even further 15 minutes from time when a lovely interchange between Trouten and Zanatta ended with the the latter crashing a drive against the crossbar in what proved to be Alloa’s best chance of the match.

Jake Hastie, Adam Brown and Steven Hetherington were all thrown into the fray as Alloa continued to press for that crucial winner.

And then very nearly came the killer blow. A long ball over the top in the 86th minute found Daniel MacKay and Parry had to be at his best to deny the away side the sucker punch.

It was the closest Inverness had come in a match dominated by the part timers. Ultimately, it wasn’t to be for Jim Goodwin’s side who had to settle for their fifth draw of the season.

Everyone leaving the Indodrill Stadium knew it should have been so much more.