ALLOA Athletic manager Jack Ross insists his men will not underestimate their Highland League opponents as they prepare to get the new campaign underway with their Betfred Cup opener against Cove Rangers on Tuesday evening.

The Aberdeenshire outfit arrive in Alloa after pushing Championship side Raith Rovers all the way in their first game last weekend, but the gaffer says his side are ready for a battle.

The Wasps boss hopes his new look squad will use the game as a chance to lay down a marker for their home form this season to avoid the same situation that cost them dearly last year.

Ross told Advertiser sport: “Regardless of who we were going to face in the first home game, I think it was always going to be an important one for us to try and win because of what happened to us here last season. We now need to make our home ground a fortress and somewhere we can pick up a lot of points and wins.

"It is a different environment now with the new surface and the bigger pitch, but hopefully we can use that to our advantage. I am looking to see that from the players starting on Tuesday because we want to make it very difficult for teams to get something from us here.

“I think the Cove Rangers game will be a very tricky one for us. We had them watched against Raith in the first game and so we know all about them from that and they did well that night. Also when they are taking a player of Mitch Megginson's calibre in then it shows the resources they have so we are under no illusions of how difficult the match will be. At the same time though, it is one that the players are excited by after not starting on the same day as everyone else and they are raring to go now.

“We are looking forward to getting started in the group now, but there is no question we will need to rotate the squad for each game with four coming so quickly together inside 10 days. We have a busy month in August and while I don't think it will weaken us with the strong squad we have here now, I will use the squad to its fullest to maximise our fitness levels for the league campaign.”

Meanwhile, versatile midfielder Steven Hetherington says the whole squad are confident of getting the new campaign off to a winning start.

Hetherington added: “Cove Rangers on Tuesday is a tricky game for us. They gave Raith a good game last time out and we know first hand how decent a side they were last season. I don't know much about Cove apart from Mitch Megginson being there now. It will be great to see him again, but we certainly won't be taking them lightly.

"Teams underestimated us last season and we were able to prove them wrong in games toward the end of the campaign, so we will have to be alert. But at the same time, I am fully confident we can go out and get the job done to get our season off to the best possible start. We have been playing some great stuff in pre-season so hopefully we can get the win to get us off and running.”