ALLOA ace Graeme Holmes has paid tribute to club physio Niam Mohammed for saving his season after the midfielder recovered from a hamstring injury to return to action in the 2-0 loss to Livingston on Tuesday evening.

The former Dunfermline and Morton star has been plagued with similar injuries throughout his career and believes it is all down to the Wasps physio that he can now play 30 games a season.

Holmes told Advertiser sport, “I am delighted to get back so quickly from injury because every time I feel my hamstring I fear the worst because of my past history with the injury and I was scared my season might have been over. But the physio here, Niam Mohammed, is an absolute magician. I have had hamstring troubles all of my career as well as a back operation and I really struggled to play many games when I was at Dunfermline and Greenock Morton.

"All of the routines Niam has me do with the bands and the preparations and treatments have meant that I have came here and been able to play over 30 games per season so I owe a lot to him for that. He has worked wonders for us all since he has been with here at Alloa and he is a top man." Holmes was a half time replacement for crocked skipper Darren Young at Almondvale on Tuesday night and despite a good individual display he was left bitterly disappointed at both the result and the overall performance of the team.

The 30-year-old midfielder felt the Wasps let their heads drop too easily as the Lions cruised to all three points, and said the players must buck up their ideas ahead of the SPFL Championship run-in.

He said, “It’s a horrible result for us. We had two good chances to start the game well and grab the lead but we haven’t taken them. Both chances fall to Ryan and on another night he would’ve scored them both. It was strange to see him miss a penalty because he is normally first class from the spot but to be fair it is a good save from the keeper. We have to do better though because you saw from this game how important it is to get in front in this division. We were on the front foot for most of the second half and were on the attack when they caught us with the second but we still didn’t do enough. There wasn’t much in the game at all but we have got to do more to come from behind, we let our heads drop too easily, so it is very disappointing in that sense. Our goal this season was simply to stay up but I still think we need more points on the board. We will have to do better than this performance when we meet Raith at the weekend. The performance is even more difficult for us to take when you consider how good we were in the Falkirk game. We have to stand up better to conceding a goal. We need to be brave and get on the ball and make things happen in that situation but that wasn’t the case in the Livingston game.” The Wasps midfield dynamo sees the Raith game as a proverbial ‘six-pointer’ but is certain Alloa have the quality to grab all three points and secure their place in the league for next season.

Holmes added, “We started the season great, got a good points tally on the board but now we need to see it through and another few wins will be enough for us. We have had our bad quarter so now we need to pick up some points down the stretch and hopefully we can start against Raith at the weekend. The game is now a six-pointer for us and we have to take something from the game but then these are the types of games we relish as a squad. Last weekend was a huge win for us and if we can add a victory over Raith to that then I think it will be difficult for the likes of Cowdenbeath to catch us. Our next three games will be crucial for us to pick points in because we have a really difficult final few games against the top three.”