Alloa boss Barry Smith says the team are raring to go ahead of their SPFL Championship crunch with Dumbarton at the Bet Butler Stadium on Saturday.

The Wasps boss will be without two players as veteran midfielder Stephen Simmons is still struggling with a hip injury, whilst former Motherwell midfielder Adam Asghar has joined East Stirling on loan for a month, as he continues to step up his his recovery from a broken foot.

The Clackmannanshire outfit have the chance to close the gap on their fellow part-timers, to do so they would need to break a run of 14 games without a victory over the Sons, but it a challenge the gaffer believes his players are well up for.

Smith told Advertiser sport: “We now look forward to Saturday and it being against one of our fellow part-time teams makes it a huge one. Every game is massive between now and the end of the season, but we know how big a win would be for us in this one. If we can beat Dumbarton then we get to within three points of them and that will keep us looking up the way. The club has a long run without a win against them, but records are made to be broken and so hopefully we can change that on Saturday. Asghar has gone to East Stirling on loan for a month because he needs games to get back into contention. He broke his foot in the Petrofac Cup semi with Rangers and just needs some minutes under his belt and hopefully he will get that there and then look to come back to play a part in the run-in.” Smith reckons his side never got going in the 1-0 defeat to Hibs last weekend and knows they will have to be right back on their game if they are to topple Ian Murray’s men.

He added: “This is a big game for the team once again, but it is very much one to look forward to. We just need to make sure we get back to performing at the level that we had been previously. I think the most disappointing aspect of last week was that we never got the ball down and played at any stage. That is hat we have done all season to compete as well as we have so we need to get back to that. Hibs were good in possession of the ball and made life difficult for us. They are a full time team who have high calibre player commanding decent salaries, but that is the reality of the league.”