After an underwhelming start to the season, Peterhead are fast becoming one of the most entertaining sides to watch in League One.
A fortnight after putting five past high-flying Dumbarton, they emerged victorious in a 4-2 tussle with 10-man Alloa Athletic and were at times imperious at Recreation Park.
Led by skipper Scott Brown with youngster Josh Mulligan playing a talismanic role, they made their man advantage count and delivered back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
Steven Boyd had opened the scoring against his old club, before Niah Payne and a Brown penalty, where goalkeeper David Hutton was sent off, turned the game around.
Charlie Gilmour levelled immediately but Russell McLean and Mulligan found the net in the second half to seal the points.
“We had a poor start to the game but after 10-15 minutes, we played well,” said manager Jim McInally. “We got a grip of the game and we had a lot of good possession.
“We took the lead, they went down to 10 men then we concede a goal from kick-off, which is pretty criminal. But we said to them at half-time to be patient; we knew we were playing a team that had place this shape recently (against Cove Rangers).
“We were especially good on the right hand side – Josh Mulligan was unplayable – and scored some really good goals. One from a set-piece as well, which is good for us as that’s not been happening.
“We played a lot of good one-touch stuff. There were a lot of good performances – not just Josh but Andy McCarthy, Simon Ferry, Scott Brown, Hamish Ritchie too.”
Boyd finished off a neat counter-attack to put Alloa ahead after 10 minutes but Peterhead were level when Payne tucked away Andy McCarthy’s cross.
They were briefly ahead on 35 minutes after Hutton brought down Payne, who has chasing a rebound from Brown’s shot. Hutton was given a second yellow card and Brown tucked away the resulting penalty.
Barry Ferguson’s side refused to be bowed though and scored straight from kick-off, as Gilmour finished from close range from Daniel Church’s centre.
McLean came on at half-time and his intervention proved pivotal. He climbed above the Alloa defence to head in Flynn Duffy’s corner to put the visitors ahead again.
The scoring was rounded off by Mulligan with five minutes to go as he collected Payne’s cut-back and slotted beyond replacement goalkeeper Keir Burt.
“To win two games on the trot is a first for us this year and it puts us back in the pack again,” added McInally.
“You look at the fixtures every week in this league and if you were putting a coupon on, you wouldn’t be betting on this league. It’s so hard to pick a winner at times.
It’s like watching prime Barcelona! Beautiful football from the boys in blue and it’s Mulligan who grabs his second goal in as many games!
(2-4) #BlueToon 🔵⚪️💙
— Peterhead FC (@pfcofficial) October 16, 2021
“I spoke to Barry Ferguson before the game and he asked me if I’d seen anyone I thought could win it yet. I thought Cove are probably the best I’d come across.
“There’s nobody outstanding but the standard is high. We’re just delighted to come and get that result.”
The only downside on the day was an injury to Ryan Conroy, who limped off after 17 minutes with a groin problem.
“We trained quite hard on Tuesday night and he should probably look after himself a bit better,” said McInally. “He does everything. He just tightened up a bit.
“He’ll not be out any great length of time, maybe a week or two.”
