RETURNING Alloa hero Kevin Cawley hopes a return to familiar surroundings can help him rediscover his best form after a frustrating year with Dumbarton.

The 27-year-old, who rejoined the club last week after being released by Sons' boss Steve Aitken, admits it was an easy decision to come back as soon as Wasps' Assistant boss Paddy Connolly reached out to him.

Now the skillful striker, who made 127 appearances for the club in his previous four year stint, is determined to make up for lost time by helping the Wee County outfit's League One promotion bid next season.

Cawley told Advertiser sport: “I am chuffed to be back at Alloa. I got a phonecall from Paddy Connolly almost immediately after being released from Dumbarton. He told me they were interested in bringing me back and then as soon as I spoke to Jack the deal was quickly agreed. I felt it was the best option for me at this stage in my career to come back here to familiar surroundings and start enjoying my football again. It was an easy decision to make and now that it is sorted my focus is fully on helping Alloa back into the Championship.

“I had a few other offers, but I felt this was the best place for me to be. I know the club well, there are still some familiar faces at the club and I really liked what Jack had to say so it was a no brainer for me. It was a hard one for me to leave last season and I had a really frustrating season at Dumbarton where things didn't work out the way I thought they would, but I want to come back now and make up for the season that I lost.

“I am 27-year-old now so hopefully I can still have a few good years left in me at a decent level. I want to just get back to playing football, scoring goals and getting that feel good factor back.”

Cawley is hopeful that his arrival will encourage more of the current squad to commit for next season, but is confident Jack Ross will build a squad capable of mounting a challenge for the League One title next season.

He said: “Obviously promotion is the aim first and foremost, but it would be nice if we could mount a title challenge too. We know it is going to be tough with the likes of Livingston coming down and Peterhead having a good run to the playoffs, but it is a challenge we are looking forward to. It would be nice if we could tie up a few more of the boys like Jason Marr and Iain Flannigan, but obviously the gaffer has his own ideas of players he wants to bring in as well. I know the gaffer is looking to get his business done early so hopefully he can get a strong squad together quickly.”

The former Celtic trainee admits he was impressed by the transformation the club has under gone since the arrival of Jack Ross and he believes the new gaffer can have a positive effect on his game too.

Cawley added: “I was impressed by the transformation in Alloa last season after Jack came in because they did struggle under Danny. Jack has came in, steadied the ship a bit and wants to play the game the right way so I think that will suit my game down to a tee. I have never worked with the gaffer before, but I have heard from a lot of the boys both here and at Dumbarton that he was very good to work with so I can't wait to get started and hopefully we can help each other.”