ALLOA captain Graeme Holmes hailed his side’s lightning start which saw them come out on top against Airdrieonians at the Indodrill Stadium last Saturday.

A quick-fire double from defender Andy Graham helped the Wasps defeat their promotion rivals, and Holmes was delighted that his team-mates were able to take the initiative early.

And the skipper was relieved to have exacted revenge on the Lanarkshire side after they beat the Wasps by the same 2-1 scoreline at the Excelsior Stadium in November.

Holmes told Advertiser Sport: “We are delighted with the result. We had to dig in a bit after a great start but considering they are just below us, it is great to open up a bit of a gap. We owed them one from the previous game.

“We have been starting well in games but sometimes we maybe haven’t taken advantage of it. However, we have done that in the last couple of weeks and we are delighted for Andy getting his double.

"In the first 20 minutes we were excellent. After that they came back into the game and got themselves a goal, which was maybe quite poor from our point of view.

"We were hemmed in for a while but we got to half time in the lead. The second half was much more even and we managed to see the game out.”

The Wasps face another busy week, facing East Fife on Tuesday as the Advertiser goes to print before making the trip to Brechin on Saturday, and Holmes reckons a good week can help them secure their place in the promotion mix.

He said: “Having three games in a week gives us the chance to pick up nine points in quick succession, and a run like that can go a long way towards cementing our place in the playoffs.

"We are in a really tight league, and we have to make sure we are at our best to seal our place in the playoffs and potentially put pressure on Livingston, because there is not much between a lot of the teams.”

Despite the gap at the top of the table currently standing at nine points, Holmes says Alloa must still believe they can catch leaders Livingston, and admitted it is crucial that they start to apply pressure to the League One pacesetters.

He added: “We have got to believe that we can still win it. We will do our best to push them all the way.

"If it happens, then great, but if we have to go through the playoffs then so be it. Our aim is to get promoted however we can. We would much rather win the league.

"They are in the driving seat right now and it would take a pretty major collapse for them to finish second or lower now, but all we can do is keep the pressure on and see what happens.”