JIM GOODWIN reiterated his belief in his Alloa players, but admitted he couldn't put his finger on what's gone wrong in recent matches.

The Wasps are currently on a five-game losing streak in all competitions, their worst of the season, after losing to relegation rivals Partick Thistle.

Goals from Blair Spittal and veteran Scott McDonald sunk Alloa and sent them to the bottom of the Championship table for the first time since August.

"We've sat down as a group and spoken about it," Goodwin revealed when asked about what has gone wrong in the last month.

"We had a big meeting and in fairness to the players there's nobody disagreeing.

"We are at the moment giving away poor goals that we weren't giving away at the start of the season.

"We've got to get back to doing the basics better and not giving ourselves a mountain to climb.

"It would be great to see us getting our noses in front and then having a chance to take our foot of the gas and let the clock run down.

"I've said to the players that we are still only seven points off fifth. They've still got a lot to play for and it is really important that we don't get too down on ourselves.

"We've put ourselves in a good position. I think we played some good football again on Saturday. But, I am not daft enough to think possession stats are enough."

The manager was left frustrated by his side's poor defending and their inability to create any real chances throughout the 90 minutes for the second week running.

The Wasps game plan went out of the window within four minutes as Spittal pounced on the side's defensive frailty.

The Irishman continued: "We were all looking forward to the game and the game plan goes completely out the window after a couple of minutes. We are then chasing the game from there.

"I've spoken enough about the cheap goals that we are giving away.

"At this moment of time, in the last four league games, I don't think the opposition have had to do a great deal to score.

"That's the disappointing thing for me because it's the same group of players and the same tactics. For whatever reason, we are just giving sloppy goals away.

"I would love to be able to give the opposition credit and say they have played some great football, or cut us open, but just lately I haven't been able to say that.

"It's because our defending at times has been so poor.

"(After the first goal) Partick then can afford to take their foot off the gas and I think they ran the clock down from the fifth minute.

"It's very frustrating on the sidelines when you are wanting to get a bit of pace into the game when the opposition are taking their time to get the ball back into play when it goes out."