Alloa Athletic 2-3 Dunfermline Athletic

Nicky Clark's ninth goal of the season set Dunfermline on their way to victory over Alloa

Dunfermline Athletic battled past Alloa Athletic and into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with a 3-2 win at Recreation Park.

Nicky Clark opened the scoring when he followed up Gavin Reilly's saved shot.

Celtic loanee Paul McMullan and midfielder Joe Cardle stretched the Pars lead either side of half-time.

New Alloa signing Stefan McCluskey bagged a debut goal, before Greig Spence's close-range finish set up a frantic final few minutes.

Clark's ninth goal of the season had the Pars ahead with 12 minutes gone. Wasps keeper Neil Parry had blocked Reilly's shot but Clark was alert to fire home the clearance.

Alloa tried to respond through Jordan Kirkpatrick, but his low shot lacked pace and proved easy pickings for Sean Murdoch in the Dunfermline goal.

Murdoch had to work harder to stop Kevin Cawley's 18-yard effort, launching himself to his right to make a fine one-handed stop.

Dunfermline were constantly pressing, though, and they went two-up just before half time when McMullan whipped a shot in from the left after a short corner.

Cardle came off the bench in the second half and made a quick impact, collecting a Clark pass and hammering home a shot from 16 yards on the hour mark.

But Alloa weren't done, and replacement McCluskey headed in six minutes later to keep the Wasps' hopes alive.

At the other end, Michael Moffat brought a good from Parry, then had a goal disallowed amid a frenetic finale.

Spence's strike gave Alloa the chance to snatch a replay in the dying minutes, but it proved too little, too late for the hosts.