Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin City 1 Alloa Athletic 0

Brechin City will go into the second leg of the Scottish Championship Play-Off final with a one goal advantage after a hard-fought and competitive encounter at Glebe Park.

The decisive goal came ten minutes into the second-half when former Raith Rovers midfielder Elliot Ford scored his first ever goal for the club when his shot from just inside the box took a slight deflection on its way into the net.

Brechin manager Darren Dods decided to go with the team that had defeated Raith on Saturday past while Wasps boss Jim Goodwin made one change from the side that had overcome Airdrie with Steven Hetherington coming in for Greig Spence.

City had an early opportunity after just five minutes when Ross Caldwell played a pass across the face of the penalty-box for Finn Graham who fired in a shot but it was too direct and Neil Parry saved comfortably.

Alloa hit back straight away with City keeper Graeme Smith being called into action to cut out a dangerous cross from Scott Taggart.

City kept pressing and they almost opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Parry did really well to palm away a drive from Caldwell and the hosts had an opportunity again eight minutes later when Caldwell played in James Dale but he sent his shot high over the bar and shortly afterwards a sustained period of Alloa pressure ended with Jon Robertson scuffing a shot wide of the target.

Alloa were now on the offensive and Jordan Kirkpatrick fired in a drive which went inches past in the 27th minute.

The first chance of the second-half fell City's way in the 51st minute when Andy Jackson broke free wide on the right and cut inside before firing in a shot which was held by Parry and seconds later at the other end a Calum Waters netbound header was blocked on the line by Willie Dyer.

However, City pushed forward and they made the vital breakthrough ten minutes into the half. Finn Graham did really well to break wide on the left before cutting inside and passing to Eliot Ford whose first-time shot took a slight deflection on its way into the net.

The Wasps then replaced Steven Hetherington and Kevin Cawley with Stefan McCluskey and Greig Spence in an attempt to tilt the balance in their favour.

Alloa were pushing forward to try and grab the equaliser, but City were looking dangerous every time they broke from defence into attack and they almost made it 2-0 with seven minutes remaining when Liam Watt flighted in a corner from the right for Paul McLean whose downward header bounced in front of the goal before squirming up and hitting the bar.

The visitors were pushing everyone forward in the closing stages and Andrew Graham powered in a header with just a couple of minutes remaining but Smith saved easily.

City then made their first substitutionof the match with a minute left in the clock with Ross Caldwell being replaced by Ally Love but despite late pressure from the Wasps City held on for a vital win.