Alloa keeper Craig McDowall says he is ready for the fight of his life as he prepares to battle new signing John Gibson for the right to replace Scott Bain as the number one at Recreation Park next season.

The Wasps face the biggest test in their history next year as they compete in an SPFL Championship containing Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian and the former Livingston stopper believes the prestige of those games makes that battle all the more important.

The 23-year-old believes working with a top-class keeper such as Scott Bain for the past three years gives him a huge opportunity to step up in his absence.

McDowall told Advertiser Sport, “It is great to sign on again and I feel like I have a real opportunity to go and make the number one jersey my own now that Bainy has got his big move. I think working alongside Scott as well as the goalkeeping coaches we have had at Alloa has prepared me well for the fight and it is up to me now to go and prove to everyone that I am good enough. I think with any keeper it is all about getting a run of games in the team. It is very difficult to come in for one or two games at a time but hopefully now I can get that. I was delighted for Scott to get his move because he deserves it. He is a top class goalkeeper and working with him has definitely helped me.

“He has been a top quality keeper so it is great to see him get the break he deserves. To be honest, I think if Scott had stayed it would have been hard for me to stay on again because I am at the stage in my career that I need to be playing games. Now I have that chance with the jersey up for grabs to go and fight for it and that is all I can ask for. To go and play at Ibrox, Easter Road and Tynecastle is the reason that you play football and it is something that I would love to do so it makes the fight for the number one spot all the more important.

“I have actually played with John at boys club level so it is funny that things have come round full circle and here we are competing once again for the number one spot. He is a good keeper who I know well and it is hard competition for me again but at this level it is never going to be easy and I have confidence in my ability. I am just looking forward to getting back into pre-season and knuckling down now.” McDowall admits he is delighted to hear people writing them off before a ball is kicked after they were made bookies favourites for relegation next season and he believes the Wasps can use that to their advantage.

Especially given how many of last season’s heroes have stayed around for another year in Clackmannanshire.

He said, “ I have been surprised by how many of last year’s squad the gaffer has convinced to stay on because there was a lot of interest in a few of them from other clubs. I am absolutely buzzing for the new season and we just can’t wait for it to start. To be involved in such an exciting league is going to be incredible not just for the players but the fans as well. I think being relegation favourites works to our advantage because it means we can go and play our football with absolutely no pressure and that is when we are at our most dangerous.

“The big three will be under pressure to produce results every single week and so you never know what can happen.” Barry Smith’s squad for next year contains the majority of the same players who were thrashed 7-0 by Rangers on their previous visit to Ibrox in November 2012 but the man vying to be their new number one reckons the lessons learned from that game coupled with the fact that they are a better side now means the Glasgow giants might not get things all their own way when they next meet.

McDowall added, “We were unfortunate the last time we went to Ibrox that we caught Rangers on the wrong day.

“They had just lost to Inverness a few days before so they got a reaction from that and then we went and conceded in the first 60 seconds. We were on a hiding to nothing from there but I think this time around will be different.

“We are a better team now and we showed at Aberdeen last year that we know how to play in the bigger games now.”