IAN McCALL was left to rue his side’s missed opportunities after their 1-1 draw with Alloa but praised the home side’s goalkeeper after a superb display.

Jamie MacDonald was awarded man of the match after a series of excellent saves – something that the Thistle manager believes was telling.

“We were dominant throughout the game but we just missed too many chances,” he said. “When you come away from home and the goalkeeper wins man of the match, that tells us a story.

“It’s important that when you don’t win, you don’t lose but it’s certainly two points dropped from us.”

The match began with plenty of effort from both sets of players, with Alloa’s Liam Buchanan fashioning the game’s first opportunity when he tested Scott Fox with a dipping effort from 25 yards that the away goalkeeper tipped over the bar.

Then, with seven minutes played, the home players were howling for a goal when Kevin O’Hara directed a corner towards goal. Fox dived low to halt the ball on the line and despite the protests of the Alloa players, the referee waved play on.

Thistle then came within inches of drawing first blood minutes later when Sean McGinty got on the end of a corner and powered a header at goal that also resulted in a last-ditch clearance.

As the first half progressed, Thistle grew into the game and Joe Cardle should have given his side the lead around the half-hour mark when Craig Slater’s delivery from the right found him unmarked at the far post, but the former Dunfermline winger failed to connect properly with the ball or seriously trouble MacDonald.

With the momentum behind the visitors, Kenny Miller was next to go close for Thistle but MacDonald produced a superb one-handed save to deny the veteran striker before the first half was drawn to a close.

Thistle started the second half in the ascendancy and Reece Cole almost broke the deadlock immediately after the restart with a long-range drive that MacDonald tipped behind for a corner.

The home side then profited from some excellent hold-up play from O’Hara on the right, who crossed in for Liam Buchanan, but the one-time Thistle striker’s header flashed past the near post.

Then, the goal arrived. Some neat build-up play released Adam Brown down the left and the midfielder’s low cross-cum-shot took a deflection off of Steven Saunders that gave Fox no chance of stopping it.

Cole went close with another long-range effort, forcing a smart stop from MacDonald, before an extraordinary spell that saw the visitors awarded two penalties in the space of three minutes.

The first arrived after Robbie Deas was adjudged to have a handled in the box but Stuart Bannigan, Thistle’s captain on the day, hit a poor penalty that MacDonald was able to parry away without too much hassle.

The second came two minutes later when Blair Malcolm pushed Cardle over in the area with the referee pointing to the spot for the second time, much to the chagrin of the home support. Bannigan stepped up again and made no mistake this time, rifling his shot into the bottom-right corner.

Alloa manager Peter Grant was left less than enthused with the referee’s performance.

“I said after the first penalty that he’s desperate to give another one and I hardly had those words out of my mouth and a second penalty is given,” he said. “I watched it back, Cardle has fallen and young Blair has put his hands on his back as he’s falling and he’s given penalty kick, and it’s disgusting.

“I thought it was a proper game for the Championship and I’m disgusted someone else has taken the headlines.”