Alloa Athletic manager Jack Ross is delighted to sign red-hot striker Greig Spence for third spell at club

Spence netted 19 goals despite playing in a Cowdenbeath side which was relegated through the playoffs, and his new manager is confident he can improve on that tally in an Alloa shirt.

The Wasps boss is also hoping he can help the 23-year-old get his career back on an upward trajectory with a successful campaign.

Ross told Advertiser Sport: “Like Kevin Cawley, we are not signing Greig for sentimental reasons. He is somebody who was nominated for League One player of the year last season even though he was part of a team which got relegated, which shows you just how good a season he had.

"We are really excited that we have managed to bring him back to the club. His goalscoring record in the league we are going into is excellent, and with the players we are signing in a creative sense, I am sure he can go and better that this season.

“He would have helped us enormously last season in the Championship because he has played at that level before. Now we have dropped down a division we know that he is more than capable and from my point of view, I’m hoping that I can help him progress his career upwards again, hopefully with us in terms of winning promotion, and then beyond that as well. He is only a young man and he certainly has the quality to go and play full-time football again.”

Ross believes Spence will link up well with his other new recruits, and says the fact that the forward is already familiar with the club made it easy to tempt him into a return.

He said: “From a character point of view, it was an easy decision because he is already familiar with some of the players who are already here and some of the boys who have come back.

"He is familiar with the club and he will settle in no problem. From a playing point of view, he is excited about the fact that we have a real threat in forward areas with Isaac Layne staying and Jamie Longworth coming in.

"What is arguably more important is that behind them we have Jordan Kirkpatrick and Kevin Cawley, who are very creative players, so I think he recognises that we will create opportunities for him. He is a confident lad and he will be backing himself to go and take those.

“I think the fact that he has been here before might have made it easier for me to persuade him to come. He is aware how good a club it is, how well supported the boys are and how well they are looked after.

"My decision was based purely on the fact that he scores goals and has done at this level very recently, but it made my pitch easier than it might have been with other players.”

The Alloa boss is delighted with his summer transfer business so far and reckons he will have added a further two new faces by the time pre-season training starts in a fortnight.  

Ross said: “We want to try and build a squad which is competitive. We will have aims and targets which we will speak about in the dressing room. I knew what I wanted to do in terms of how I wanted to build the squad. I always knew I wanted to make it tighter in terms of numbers, which has enabled us to get consistent quality across all positions.

"We will probably have three more coming in, particularly defensively. We are a bit light there at the moment so we are working hard on that. I said I wanted my squad in place for pre-season starting and we have got another two weeks, so I am confident we will have that in place.

“We are hopeful of one in particular but if they fall through you almost have to start again. I’ve been lucky so far in that the bulk of the players I’ve tried to get have come here.

"There are always a couple who escape you for various reasons and a couple of boys that we are working on at the moment might do the same, but hopefully over the near future we will be able to add them. We are almost there, and I’m really happy with what I’ve got at the club so far.”

The manager admitted that he would prefer to use the club’s own players, but says that he would consider using the loan market to add to his squad as the new season draws closer.

Ross added: “My own preference is to have our own players here, not because I think you don’t get good players on loan, because Scott McKenna and Michael Duffy were terrific last season, but because sometimes there are more misses than hits in the loan market.

"The good thing is we know where we are with the squad and we can be a bit more considered with what we look to add. The loan market is something we will look at potentially as we start to get into the early season.

"It’s not something we’re discounting at the moment, but for now we are focusing on trying to have our own players here.”