CRAIG MALCOLM insists that his early-season injury nightmare hasn’t hampered his preparations for his first campaign as an Alloa player.

The striker suffered an ankle injury on his competitive debut at Ross County and missed the Wasps’ Betfred Cup campaign, but has returned in their opening two league games.

And despite failing to find the net for his new club so far, the former Stranraer man is confident that goals will start to come sooner rather than later.

Malcolm told Advertiser Sport: “It was obviously frustrating to get injured in my first game up at Ross County.

"It meant I missed out on the rest of the league cup games but I don’t feel like I’m playing catch-up in terms of my preparation.

"I’ve felt OK since I came back in. I’ve just been frustrated because I’ve not been able to score any goals and get myself off the mark yet.

"I had a chance against East Fife where Iain Flannigan has put one on my head but I wasn’t able to take it.

"But I also know that the rest of the guys will create chances for me, and it’s only a matter of time before the goals start to come.”

Malcolm featured from the start as Alloa took on East Fife last Saturday, and admitted that it was a difficult day for the Wee County outfit as they were beaten 1-0.

He said: “It was a tough day. We didn’t start too badly. In the first half-hour I thought we were pretty comfortable. I had a good chance with a header, and being totally honest I probably should have scored it. In the second half, we just didn’t get started so we are all very disappointed at that.

“Once they scored East Fife were content to sit in. The gaffer threw big Kris Renton on and we played a bit more direct but we could have been there all night and still not scored.

"We played into their hands by trying to make it a battle. We are a better football team than that. But on another day we’d have created a lot more chances.”

The Wasps have the chance to get back to winning ways this week as they take on Dundee’s development side in the Irn-Bru Cup on Wednesday before facing Queen’s Park on Saturday, and Malcolm says it’s crucial that they put their disappointing start behind them.

He added: “We have two massive games this week. Wednesday will hopefully give us the chance to get a few goals because none of the three of us strikers have managed to score yet. We need to start chipping in and we are all too aware of that. At the same time, if more chances start to come our way we know we’ll put them away.

“Saturday’s game is obviously massive. If we want to get ourselves up the right end of the table, three points are a must. It’s vital that we get ourselves back on track.”