ALLOA goalkeeper Andy McNeil says the whole squad must stick together as they battle their way through a tricky SPFL Championship campaign where the odds are stacked against them.

The Wasps are the bookies favourites for relegation, but they defied their critics last weekend with a spirited fightback away to St Mirren as they battled to snatch a late 1-1 draw in Paisley.

The former Hibs keeper returned to the starting lineup for only his second league appearance of the season in place of David Crawford, but insists he is not frustrated by his lack of action because he fully supports the manager's philosophy of competition for places.

McNeil told Advertiser sport: ““We all knew it would be a tough season in this division when we signed up at Alloa so it is important when we are not playing that we still support each other and support the club. I know it is maybe not the done thing in football to keep changing the goalkeepers, but the manager is within his right to change people to suit the type of game. You only have to look back to the World Cup last year where Tim Krul came on for Holland just to face penalties.

“You get different things from different goalkeepers. The manager makes decisions based on who he thinks is ideally suited to each game and I know it is unusual for keepers to constantly change, but I firmly believe in my own ability as well as David's to get the job done no matter who he selects. I don't think it has a great impact on the team whoever plays, but it is a nice headache for the manager to have. I think David has done really well since he has come in here to recover from such a terrible injury.

“I know him well and so when I said to the manager to bring him in back in the summer, I had every confidence he could go on to play and do well. The manager has decisions like that to make all over the pitch. We are all in this together though, so no matter who plays we are all 100% behind each other. I believe in DC and he is the same with me, we are all on the same page and we don't have anyone at the club who is out for themselves.”

McNeil reckons the valuable point earned at St Mirren Park could be crucial for them and despite the mix up in defence that led to the Saints' opener last weekend, the experienced stopper believes the Wasps deserve praise for the character they showed to bounce right back from the error.

He said: “It was a good point in the end for us because it is always tough at St Mirren. They kept the ball well and sometimes that can be difficult against a full time team when they do that, but I thought the boys did really well to match it. We played really well at times and obviously it is a result that gets us off the foot of the table so it wasn't a bad day's work. Things happen on the football pitch like it did for the goal and they can go one of two ways after something like that happens. You can either go into your shell and just stop playing or you can stand up to it, do your job and fight to get back into the game. I think we showed great character to do the latter and thankfully Jason scored a superb goal for us so it worked out alright in the end.”

The 29-year-old was delighted to be back playing in his first league game since the 5-1 defeat to Rangers back in August and he was happy with his crucial saves that kept his side in the match.

McNeil added: “It was good to get the chance to play and do what I do. It was just one of those days where the shots were in positions that I was able to get across and make the saves so that was pleasing for me. The whole team defended so well throughout the game, and then once we got the equaliser, it was us pushing to try and win it. They have a lot of good players and some tricky attacking players with their movement, so I thought the whole defensive line did well to stand up to that.”