ALAN TROUTEN turned 34 on Friday but just 24 hours later he buzzed around the Recs with the vigour of a man half his age.

The wily old veteran made it ten goals for the season with Alloa's opener as the Wasps ended their winless run by beating Dunfermline Athletic.

But, that was just the tip of the iceberg with Trouten's increasingly influential craft, guile, and vision continuing to be at the heart of all things good for Peter Grant's side.

It's remarkable that it took so long for him to be given a proper shot at Scotland's second-tier and after an impressive year last season he continues to age finer than a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

With the years comes experience and Trouten knows more than most that Alloa can't afford to not build on their fine win over the Fifers.

"We knew we had to start winning and we knew we had only won two out of 12," Trouten told Advertiser Sport. "People give us plaudits for playing well but it is not good enough.

"Hopefully with that we can go on a run now. We have thought that before that a win will take us on a run and it hasn't happened.

"Sometimes you play well and don't get what you deserve.

"But, against Queen of the South and Arbroath we didn't play well until we were two down; so, we are giving ourselves a mountain to climb.

"There are good teams in this league; Queen of the South have (Stephen) Dobbie and Arbroath are flying.

"So, against these teams, it is virtually impossible to come back from two-down although I know we did it against Queen of the South.

"We seem to be better in winning the games when we go ahead first and have struggled when coming from behind.

"We were probably a bit more streetwise (against Dunfermline) and we won second balls a lot better than we have been doing lately. That's a massive part of the game.

"We need to do all sides of the game up to a high level because they are all good teams in this league and if you are not at it you will get beat."

Trouten continued his fine form against the Pars as he made it six goals in seven games for the Wasps to help the part-timers secure their first regular league win over the Fifers since 1979.

He said: "I don't know what the secret is but sometimes you go through your career and you just get teams where you have a lot of success against.

"In my early career I had never scored against Dunfermline and have now gone on a wee run.

"But, I don't mind who I am scoring against so long as I am contributing to the team and we are winning games.

"We can only worry about ourselves and we are not interested in anyone else. We had a good opportunity last week but we didn't take it.

"We would much rather play poorly and win than well and not win. Victories at the end of the day are all that matter."

Alloa's victory was in part down to the fine cameo from Robert Thomson who replaced the injured Adam Brown and Trouten was full of praise for the striker.

He said: "Big Thommo was excellent when he came on and I played with him earlier in my career and know what you get from the big man.

"If I was him I wouldn't be happy not playing. No one is happy not playing and they shouldn't be happy not playing.

"That's when you need to react when you get your opportunity and he was excellent and improved the side."