ALLOA star Ryan McCord says they must learn to win ugly again ahead of this weekend’s clash with relegation rivals Livingston at Almondvale.

The Wasps received the plaudits for the second week running for a superb performance in defeat as they ultimately crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Glasgow giants Rangers last Saturday at the Indodrill Stadium.

But the midfield dynamo believes it is vital that they start collecting points rather than pats on the back if they are to escape the SPFL Championship relegation zone this season.

McCord told Advertiser sport: “We know now that the Livingston game becomes a huge game for us and at least their draw with Cowdenbeath last weekend was one thing that did break for us.

“It is important now to get the victory and put some more distance between us and them. Livingston is never an easy place to go and as a team we haven’t done well there in recent times, but this time we are confident of coming away with the result.

“I think we need to take a rubbish performance and just focus on winning the game anyway we can.

“We have to remain positive because we have a good run of games coming up now where we have to pick up some points from somewhere.

“I think we have been playing well recently without getting the breaks so maybe we just need a scrappy goal to go in for us.” McCord, who caught the eye as a key part of a dominant Alloa midfield in the 1-0 defeat to the Light Blues on Saturday, revealed the Clackmannanshire side remain upbeat in the dressing room despite a horrific run of luck on and off the pitch recently.

He said: “Nothing seems to be breaking for us at the moment. We had a real injury backlog and then once we get our players back now we seem to have caught some bad breaks on the pitch.

“For the past few weeks we have been playing really well, but we keep giving teams a goal of a start every week and that’s frustrating for us.

“We have played well again after the Rangers goal last weekend and probably been the better side, but we just can’t get the ball to go in for us at the moment. We are still upbeat in the dressing room though because we know it is simply the level we are at now where we can create as many chances as we want, but if you make one mistake then we get punished. I am confident we will come through this and kick on again.” While, the Wasps strike pairing of Greig Spence and Liam Buchanan may have gone cold in recent weeks compared to their red-hot early season form, the former Dundee United trainee believes it is only a matter of time before their dynamic duo find their form again.

The 25-year-old also reckons it is down to the rest of the team to start chipping in with goals in the meantime.

McCord added: “Bucks and Spence seem to have hit a bit of a cold patch, but they were flying at the start of the season and it is up to us to chip in with goals to take the pressure off them. We know they will come back into form, but it just wasn’t to be in the Gers game.”