Maitland's Wasps are ready for the challenge

Jamie MacDonald • Published 22 Jul 2009 12:03 0 Comments

FOOTBALL is back for the new season on Saturday after what seems like a shorter than usual break.

Pre-season training has been in full swing up and down the country as players have been sweating it out to tune themselves up for the forthcoming challenges in the cups and the league.

For Alloa Athletic the warm-up sessions have included friendly matches, a victory in the Oban Tournament and a closely-fought Stiringshire Cup match with Stenhousemuir.

Despite the disappointments of last season, Wasps manager Allan Maitland knows the importance of reaching a play-off spot with the possibility of promotion to Division 1 football.

He and assistant James Ward have been working the players hard and, with great assistance from coaches Ronnie Scott and John Hillcoat, progress has been positive.

In the build-up to the new season, Maitland has seen signs that his team is getting stronger.

He said, "Our first pre-season game was behind closed doors against Albion Rovers and, although we lost 2-0, the result wasn't important. It was an excellent pre-season exercise for us with our trialists all showing up well.

"We went on to play Stenhousemuir in the Stirlingshire Cup last week, which ended 0-0, before they won a penalty shoot-out. There was more challenge from our lads in what was a decent exercise and I was happy not to lose a goal in the 90 minutes."

The league programme will be occupying much of the manager's thoughts in the coming weeks.

The opening league fixture is Saturday 8 August when Alloa travel to Strathclyde Homes Stadium to meet last season's Third Division champions Dumbarton.

Alloa's first home league fixture is Saturday 15 August against Peterhead. This is followed on 22 August by a trip to meet Airdrie.

Wasps captain Chris Townsley believes the club has put together a decent squad of players and is confident they can put the disappointments of last season behind them.

He said, "We have signed some good players, and I believe we have a better squad than last season so I am really looking forward to the start."

The Edinburgh lad, studying sports science at Herriot Watt University is relishing the challenge this Saturday when Alloa travel to Dingwall to face First Division side Ross County in the first round of the Alba Challenge Cup.

"Michael Bolochoweckyj and I played with County for three seasons under Alex Smith in good times in the north," he said. "I feel we can go up there and get a result - we have done well up there in previous games.

"A victory there would give us a perfect start to the season. We have good boys signed and they are also good guys to get on with."

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