THE look of sheer joy on Kevin O'Hara's face when he delivered a late Christmas present said it all about how much this win mattered.

His left foot flick into Ryan Scully's bottom corner had just silenced East End Park and turned this festive fixture on its head.

Racing towards the baying Dunfermline fans in the main stand, the former Falkirk player must have known as much as anyone how important a moment this was in Alloa's season.

Written off at the start, predictions of their tumble to League One have only grown more fervent off the back of a five-game winless run, culminating in four straight defeats.

O'Hara was later the first over to the away contingent when Steven Reid's final whistle sounded to loud jeers from the home support, punching the air in delight as he revelled in dragging Alloa from the abyss.

But, he wasn't alone. This was as good a team performance as they've produced this season.

It was the intelligence of Iain Flannigan, playing at the base of what increasingly became a midfield five, to spot Dunfermline's attacks before they began.

It was Robbie Deas' coming of age in the absence of stalwart Andy Graham.

It was Jamie MacDonald continuing to shine in Neil Parry's absence.

It was O'Hara's sharpness of mind to pounce on a loose ball and get a shot away in a flash.

The pieces of Peter Grant's makeshift puzzle didn't look like they would work before kick-off and yet they defied those predictions to get another one over Dunfermline.

It's often felt like a case of blink and the Wasps are once again taking on their rivals. That hardly mattered when at the end of the sixth clash of 2019 they emerged the victors.

Alloa had to battle just for the right to stay in this one and few in Fife would have given them a fighting chance when they predictably fell behind.

Jamie MacDonald had already been called into action twice inside the opening minutes to deny Kevin Nisbet, but his stunning saves were in vain when the striker scored at the third time of asking.

He rose above Deas and Scott Taggart to get on the end of Ryan Dow's inviting delivery and glanced a wonderful header beyond MacDonald's reach.

It's the fourth game in six in which the Wasps have given themselves an uphill task – and the 11th time this season – but, mercifully, this one was not insurmountable.

Buoyed by a fairly bright start, Alloa stormed up the other end of the park and equalised within a minute.

Stevie Hetherington's corner was kindly flapped into Liam Dick's path by Ryan Scully and despite the keeper redeeming himself with an initial save there was no stopping Adam Brown when he rifled the rebound home.

Things soon got even better for the Wasps and the away support, who were breaking up the nervy silence with suitably festive cheers at the expense of the Fifers. Strangely enough, the hosts showed remarkable generosity as they gifted Alloa a second goal.

When a Dunfermline defender dallied on the ball, Liam Buchanan pounced to deflect it to O'Hara, who had marginally strayed back onside. Without breaking stride, he swivelled and fired an unstoppable shot beyond Scully.

O'Hara had to look alert at the other end to get back and clear a Dow shot off the line but that was pretty much that in terms of clear cut chances on their goal.

For nearly an hour, Dunfermline tried to breakdown the white wall only to be stopped by any number of determined Wasps. No more so than Deas, who threw himself in the way of a dangerous Greg Kiltie drive to block a certain goal.

Then came the moment of magic which killed the game and, remarkably, it was Jon Robertson steaming into the Dunfermline box to provide it. A neat flick took him past Nisbet, who could only swipe away the Alloa veteran's legs for one of the most blatant penalties of the season.

It was up to the stand-in skipper Flannigan to secure the points and he topped off a superb display by coolly slotting it into the bottom corner, sealing a fine end to a memorable decade for the Wee County side.

Make no mistake, the Wasps aren't finished in this division just yet.