ALAN TROUTEN insists he and his fellow strikers are well-equipped to fire Alloa away from the drop zone this season.

Throughout November, the Wasps forward had been enjoying a fair run of form, scoring in four consecutive games.

Trouten appreciates the value of a regular goalscorer for any club, with Ayr United flying high in the league on the back of Lawrence Shawkland's penalty-box prowess.

He told Advertiser Sport: "A regular goalscorer makes all the difference at this level and at any level. At the minute, we have goals coming from all over, with everyone chipping in.

"The forward boys are always working hard and looking to score as many as we can to take the pressure off the defence.

"We are creating plenty of chances so we just need to start putting some more away."

Trouten came to the club following on from an excellent season in front of goal for Albion Rovers.

And while he has started the campaign brightly for the Wasps, he's not getting too far ahead of himself.

He added: "I don't set goalscoring targets for myself; I never have. And, at 33, I'm not going to start now.

"That's me into double figures for the season; that's the 7th time in my career that I've managed to do that."

Alloa now face away games at Falkirk and Partick Thistle, though Trouten feels the Wasps have plenty ammo to win on the day.

He said: "It's a massive end to the year for us now. And though it is such a tight league, we don't fear anyone.

"In every game we'll play this season, the pressure will be on the other team as their fans will be expecting them to win. But we don't see it that way; we've shown we can compete; now it's time to get a few more wins on the board.

"Both Falkirk and Partick Thistle have big pitches there and that might suit us and our players.

"We don't want them to get a foothold in the game with an early goal and have their fans backing them. We'll go there to frustrate them and keep them out and hopefully their fans will get on their backs.

"If we can do that then we have players at the other end that cut open any defence at this level. We know we have a good team, with good players, we just have to prove it.

"We have good players and I don't think there has been a game this season where we haven't been in it.

"The manager brought us in at the start of the season for team meetings and told us not to get too down if we had a run without a win or anything like that.

"It's all about staying together and working hard."