They have done it before, but how much do Dunfermline Athletic have left?

They have been beaten down so many times, in so many ways this season. The escape act this young side pulled off against Forfar Athletic last weekend was possible only because their captors cut the chains by having three players sent off. Alloa Athletic were better than Forfar over the regular season; they were better than Dunfermline last night and they go to East End Park with a bigger lead. They are so close now.

They could have been out of sight. With five minutes left, Michal Hrvinak, the Dunfermline goalkeeper at fault for the first two Alloa goals, threw himself to his right to block a penalty from Calum Elliot. The former Hearts striker had won the opportunity himself a little craftily when he dropped to the ground after touching the ball across John Potter on the fringe of the box.

If there was a subtle shift in momentum then, as there had been when Dunfermline scored late in the first leg of their play-off semi-final a week ago, that was soon reversed. Kevin Cawley, the Alloa forward, rolled the ball to Kevin Moon on the left side of the box and the midfielder curled a shot low into the bottom-right corner. They celebrated harder than they had after the two first-half goals; it felt like 'game over'.

For Paul Hartley, their manager, the approach to the second leg will not change, despite the plunder they have to defend in Fife. "We won't sit back, we'll go for it again," he said. "In the second half the performance was really good, I thought we totally dominated. If our final pass was better we could have scored more. But it will be different at East End Park, with a big crowd. It's half-time."

Alloa were patient in possession all night and that is how they got in front. They probed on the left, through Daryll Meggat, but when nothing was on they brought it out to Graeme Holmes, deep in central midfield. He spun a long pass out to the right, where the full-back, Jonathan Tiffoney, had found room. He was very wide and 25 yards from the line when he cut through a low shot which reared up in front of Hrivnak and over his gloves as he dived. Of all the players who left when Dunfermline entered administration, perhaps Paul Gallacher, has been the most missed. It's hard to imagine the former Scotland goalkeeper making that kind of an error.

Midfielder Ryan McCord had cleared the bar by half a yard early on and Alloa frequently tried to test Hrivnak's nerve from distance. As the first half grew old these chances became scarce as Dunfermline owned more and more territory, yet the Irn-Bru First Division team never got very close to goal. Kerr Young, their centre-back, missed wide with a header from a Ross Millen corner; Ryan Thomson was running clear on goal but James Doyle came across to make a big tackle for his team.

The next time Alloa broke, they scored again, assisted by more lightweight goalkeeping. The counter pivoted around an inventive and decisive reverse pass by Cawley on halfway, which opened Dunfermline up. McCord was running at goal, with only the retreating Young between he and Hrivnak. As the Dunfermline defence recovered, Holmes ran right of McCord and Eliot went left. Holmes had the better shot, but McCord chose the easier pass, to the striker, and the move seemed to have plateaued as the former Hearts forward was on the left edge of the box. However, he floated a first-time, right-foot shot that Hrivnak haplessly watched drift over his head and dip into the net. The look on the face of Young as he stared down his goalkeeper was an accusation.

Hrivnak was then forced to make a whole bunch of redeeming saves as Alloa outplayed their opponents in the second half at Recreation Park. Cawley, Moon and finally Elliot, from the penalty spot, threatened the third goal that would have copper-bottomed the win. When it came, it seemed to put the tie beyond doubt, but Jim Jefferies, the Dunfermline manager, can't give it up yet. "We can't play any worse," he said, with a strange kind of optimism. "We have a mountain to climb. We'll see on Sunday if they can climb it."