ALLOA go into the new season capable of beating any team in the Championship, according to their chairman.

As the 2018-19 campaign began, Mike Mulraney told Advertiser Sport that the Wasps should fear no one and look to finish as high up the table as possible.

Alloa got the season underway on Saturday against Ross County though it ended in a narrow 1-0 defeat.

Nevertheless, Mulraney said he sees no reason why his side can’t challenge the best of the league as they have done it before.

And he will be hoping to welcome a bumper home crowd to the Indodrill Stadium this weekend as Championship football makes its long-awaited return to the town.

He said: “There is great excitement at the club. We are happy to be back in the Championship after a thrilling end to last season which has set us up well for a tough season.

“We will take every game at the time. We believe there is no team we cannot beat. It is not a relegation battle we want, it is a 90 minute battle every week.

“We stayed up before when Rangers, Hearts and Hibs were in the league.”

The Wasps kick off their home campaign on Saturday against Morton with a host of new faces for the Alloa faithful to assess.

Mulraney said the board supported Jim Goodwin in everything he wanted to do in the summer, knowing his club’s budget would be far inferior to the rest of the league.

He continued: “Jim knew the position we were in depending in what league we would be in. There are teams with better resources, but we are satisfied that we have the resources to challenge.”

Despite the gulf in budgets, the chairman said the team will be putting pressure on themselves regardless of their underdog status.

“We put our own pressure on,” Mulraney said. “Our guys rightly believe that they will win every game. We have a reputation of being the small club which clubs cannot beat.”

The businessman added that season ticket sales are up on last year, but there is still time to snap up the remaining ones.

Mulraney added: “Season ticket sales are up which has been fantastic. Thanks to the fans for their support.”