FIFTEEN minutes was all it took for Alloa to turn parity into utter capitulation.

Bob McHugh had just risen between Andy Graham and Robbie Deas to make it three and, amid jubilant scenes from the home fans, the Wasps lost their heads.

First, Scott Taggart – perhaps fairly – appealed for a foul from Nicky Cadden in the build up to McHugh’s header, but referee Gavin Ross was having none of it.

Graham was having even less; the skipper refused to let the issue lie and managed to turn a yellow into a straight red to leave Alloa truly in the pits.

It was a hole they had dug for themselves and while Steven Hetherington was first down the mine when he dallied to gift Morton possession in the build up to their second, he was one of a number of Wasps who had simply fallen apart from the restart.

In truth, Alloa had a string of fine saves from Neil Parry to thank for allowing them to escape with just a 4-1 defeat.

If Alloa had been electric in the opening period in last week’s opener, then it seemed like Peter Grant had forgotten to switch the power on at Cappielow. The game was still in its infancy when McHugh nipped in at the front post to open the scoring.

Aidan Nesbitt – the best player on the park – was running riot in the opening ten minutes of the first half and it looked like David Hopkins’ side were in danger of running all over the top of Alloa. New boy Robbie Deas had to look sharp to intervene as Morton pressed for a quickfire second.

But just as the clouds overhead grew menacingly grey, the Wasps finally got their foot on the ball and weathered the storm. Iain Flannigan’s influence became apparent as did the efforts of Liam Buchanan and Kevin O’Hara.

The duo wreaked havoc with their movement and Alloa’s sudden confidence came to a head when O’Hara latched onto a ball down the left, before cutting it back for Kevin Cawley to coolly slot beyond Sam Ramsbottom for a deserved equaliser.

O’Hara was unlucky not to turn the game on its head just minutes later when he once again put the afterburners on to blitz in behind the Morton rearguard, only to be denied by the foot of Ramsbottom. His partner in crime Buchanan was next to threaten, but his hooked effort flashed past the post.

How Alloa were not leading at the break was anyone’s guess, but how they ended the 90 comprehensively on the losing side was more obvious.

Peter Grant will have been furious at the ease with which his side fell apart in the face of Morton’s rampant second-half showing.

The Ton wasted little time in flying out of the traps and capitalised on Hetherington as he dallied on the edge of the box.

Morton cleared and a swarm of hooped jerseys poured forward – any one of four players could have finished a ball across the box, but it fell to Reece Lyon to apply the final touch.

Cue ten minutes of Alloa madness as Morton went for the jugular. Graham was caught in possession on the edge of the box and Parry had to block Cadden’s dangerous cutback, before Scott Taggart was equally guilty of undue generosity to the home side. Once again, Parry had to look sharp to collect Nesbitt’s drive.

The timely interventions only delayed the inevitable and the increasingly bewildered Alloa resistance was broken when McHugh nodded past Parry and the madness unfolded.

McHugh later secured his hat-trick when he was given the freedom of Cappielow to acrobatically fire home.

ALLOA: Parry, Taggart, Dick, Graham, Deas, Hetherington, Cawley (Brown 28), Flannigan, Trouten (Robertson 64), O'Hara, Buchanan (Thomson 64). UNUSED SUBS: Henry, Stirling, O'Donnell, Malcolm.