Alloa ace Mark Docherty says the whole squad were left frustrated by yet another narrow defeat as they went down 2-1 to Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park last weekend.

The Wasps were unable to capitalise on a strong first half display as the home side rallied to claim all three points and for the 26-year-old it was an all too familiar tale.

The versatile midfielder reckons the one bright spot for the Clackmannanshire outfit in recent weeks has been the form of goalkeeper Craig McDowall who he believes hasn’t received enough credit for his displays this season.

Docherty told Advertiser sport: “It is another frustrating loss for us because we are saying the same things every week. I think the first half we absolutely dominated, but still manage to lose a silly goal. Individual mistakes are killing us at the minute. You can’t give teams a goal of a start in this league. We equalise with a great goal from Bucks, but again we start the second half poorly and get punished by another soft goal.

“We’re then chasing our tails, but even when we went for it late on, they defended really well to be fair. We threw bodies at them late on and I think we ended with four up front because we know every point is massive for us at the minute. They were able to pick us off on the break quite well at times and to be fair to McDowall he has been outstanding to keep us in the game.

“He has had three or four top class saves in the match and it was the same last Tuesday at Ibrox. He has been a real top performer for us at times this season and don’t think he has had enough credit for that. He has gone from strength to strength since getting the number one spot in the team. He has been here a long time and waited patiently for his chance. I am delighted to see him grab it with both hands now and I think he could be a big player for us in the run-in.” Docherty and his team mates now face back-to-back showdowns with SPFL Championship bottom side Livingston in the league then the Petrofac Cup Final, and he knows just how massive an impact both games could have on their season.

He said: “There is no getting away from how big a game the Livingston one is now. It is essentially a cup final before the actual cup final - it’s a massive game. We are the home team so it is up to us to take the game to them, play the way we have been playing and convert it into three points this time.

“We can’t look any further forward than this game and so we need to focus on getting this win, but we are still confident that we can get ourselves out of trouble and remain in this league again. We knew it would be tough this season because it has been the most competitive Championship ever so to stay up this year as a part-time club will be a massive achievement for us.” The club heirarchy remain tight-lipped this week in regards to the search for a manager to replace Barry Smith, but the ex-St Mirren trainee doesn’t believe it is crucial to have the new boss in place before their cup final showdown.

Docherty added: “I don’t think it is vital to get a new manager before the cup final because we are all right behind Paddy. He knows all the players well and he knows how to get the best out of us, but we also have some experienced players in the dressing room to help out as well.

“They have played a lot of games at a high level and so their influence will be crucial too, but we are more than happy to stand by Paddy and we will give our all no matter who is in charge.”