ALLOA boss Danny Lennon has urged his players to use the Scottish Cup clash with Dumbarton as a springboard for the rest of their season.

The Wasps only league win of the season came on their last visit to the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium and so they will be looking forward to Saturday’s clash with renewed optimism, but the gaffer is well aware of just how tricky a tie it will be.

The Wee County outfit have made plenty waves in the prestigious competition since their inception in 1878, and now the gaffer is hoping his players can go and write their own names into the club’s folklore with an extended run this time around.

Lennon told Advertiser sport: “It’s always great playing in the Scottish Cup. It is the oldest cup competition in the world and is associated with so many wonderful stories over the years. We are keen to give a good account of ourselves on Saturday, as cup runs always give everyone such a boost.

“We have landed a tough draw, away to Dumbarton. We will have to be at our best to get the result we want. We have the confidence booster of having won there already this season, in what was probably our best performance of the season, earning a 2-0 win. With so many changes in personnel over the summer, this was the first game that I felt we had the balance and chemistry in the team right. “We all believed our season would kick on from that point, but that hasn’t materialised and our form has been up and down to say the least. Unfortunately, since that game, we have had enforced changes to the starting line up pretty much every week due to injury, illness and suspensions. That doesn’t help, but that’s football.

“There have also been other contributory factors to our patchy form. As the manager, I have tried a few things tactically that haven’t worked. Some of our decision making and application on the pitch has fallen short of the standards we are capable of and we have been punished. Again, that’s football, but we are capable of better. What we must do is learn from these mistakes, apply what we have learned and improve our performances and results.

“I have confidence that we have the right playing and coaching staff at the club to do that and create some more wonderful history at the club this season, whether that be a run in the Scottish Cup, or achieve a record breaking fourth season in a row in the second tier of Scottish football.”

Lennon was buoyed by his side’s brave effort in defeat against title contenders Hibernian last Saturday and believes it shows there is still plenty of fight left in his squad despite their poor start to the season.

He said: “We put in a strong, battling performance against Hibs on Saturday. They are the form team in Scotland right now and we pushed them for the full 90 minutes. The goal we lost was again down to poor decision making when we had the ball and we were punished for that lapse in judgment. We were disappointed by the result, but encouraged by so many aspects of our performance.

“I would happily take that level of performance every week, as I would expect that to be good enough to earn the results we need this season to create history. There is a lot of work for us to do in order to get the goals that we need in games, but I have confidence that will come.”

Alloa will be boosted by the return of fans’ favourite Iain Flannigan to the squad, but there are still doubts over the fitness of top teams stars such as Jason Marr, Colin Hamilton and Graeme Holmes ahead of Saturday’s cup clash.

The manager, however, has been reassured that since Scott Hynd became the third youth star to break into the first team this season, he can easily call on his development squad for backup if needed.

Lennon added: “Last Saturday was another good day for our youth coaches, with young Scott Hynd starting the match. Scott is 18 and has the potential to do well in the game, if he continues to take on board the coaching given to him and apply what he is learning. “He made a good impact for us when he came on against Falkirk and merited his start against Hibs, where he gave us pretty much everything we asked of him. He competed very well against quality opposition and we will be looking after his development carefully throughout this season.

“There are other young players here who could potentially break through and there is a lot of great work going on at the club behind the scenes to give these young players every chance of making the grade.”