The first half was an evenly contested affair, most notable for Stephen Grindlay's excellent early tip-over to deny Ross Hamilton. The second period, however, was constantly threatening to descend into farce as referee Chris Boyle completely lost the plot.
His first clanger arrived just four minutes after the re-start when Alloa defender Michael Bolochoweckyj hauled down Andy Rodgers as he ran through on goal, but despite being the last man he received only a yellow card. Minutes later an innocuous tackle by John Dillon on James Stevens was deemed worthy of a red to the fury and amazement of the home crowd.
Alloa made their extra man pay when they took the lead after 61 minutes. Grindlay produced a stunning one-handed save to keep out Ian Nicolson's curling effort, but from Robert Sloan's corner he could only help the ball into the net.
Another bizarre decision by Mr Boyle saw the entire Sons' bench react furiously with substitute keeper John Wight receiving a red card for comments he obviously made.
But the Sons' had the final say when a late free-kick into the box found the head of Ryan Borris, and his knock-down was blasted high past Gary McGlynn from 12 yards by Robert Walker.