THERE'S just something about football under the lights in the Wee County.

No one who was there will ever forget the comeback against Rangers, but this dominant display against league leaders Dundee United will long be remembered in its own right.

Alloa were superb, spurned on by a desire to prove they were more than just the Championship whipping boys when the league's leaders came calling.

A second-booking late-on for the excellent Iain Flannigan aside, this was a near-faultless display and the only negative was they didn't make their first half dominance count on the scoreline.

The tone was set when Kevin O'Hara sprinted thirty yards to stop Dundee United defender Troy Brown clearing the ball and sent Alloa on the attack.

O'Hara stole the limelight from United's Lawrence Shankland thanks to a performance which encapsulated everything so good about the former Falkirk player.

His winner was a thing of real beauty, started by Scott Taggart's measured ball in behind for Kevin Cawley whose guise to stay onside was almost as good as his cross which O'Hara gleefully tapped home.

This was O'Hara at his brilliant best and after robbing Brown of the ball with his lung bursting charge, he teed up Adam Brown whose cross was almost diverted into his own net by Mark Reynolds.

Alloa had United on the ropes and were threatening to kill the game off before the half-time tangerines. A lovely interchange between Alan Trouten and Cawley teed up O'Hara but his strike flew agonisingly wide of Benjamin Siegrist's goal.

Peter Grant's Wasps started the evening propping up the rest of Scotland's second tier but you wouldn't have known it after they played their much fancied guests off the park during an electric opening half.

Dundee United were a shell of the side who arrived on the back of a 6-0 thumping of Greenock Morton, but that was down to the part-timer's fluid football.

The warning signs were there for all in Tangerine to see and they were lucky to head in at the break only one down when Iain Flannigan nicked the ball off the retreating Paul McMullan's toes and forced Brown into a last-ditch block.

Agonisingly, Flannigan could have played O'Hara in for an easy finish but no one could begrudge the 201 game man for seeing the headlines when United's backline parted to present the chance.

Flannigan was unplayable at times, picking out passes with joy and battling back to help his side when the visitors tried to flex their muscles during a second-half fightback.

Steven Hetherington was another who you couldn't help but admire. A crunching tackle on an unsuspecting victim could be heard in Menstrie and it set the tone for his all action display at the heart of Alloa's midfield.

On the odd occasion the midfield duo failed to stop the first wave of Dundee United attack, the defence was there to bail them out.

Andy Graham cleared a countless number of balls away as he put his body on the line for the cause and Robbie Deas showed maturity beyond his years to keep Shankland firmly in his back pocket.

McMullan, however, was a constant threat down Jon Robertson's left-hand side and during the second-half siege he stung Jamie MacDonald's palms on more than one occasion after evading his marker's grasp.

The half-time rollicking seemed to have done the trick for Robbie Neilson's men as Alloa had to withstand an increasingly constant stream of United attack.

Shankland nodded a couple of free headers just beyond MacDonald's post and suddenly the Wee County fans could hardly watch.

But, to a man they stood tall, defended with their lives, and in the end were unlucky not to make it two when Siegrist scrambled back to clear his own poor touch off the line.