Alloa favourite Iain Flannigan admits he is thrilled to re-sign for the club and now cannot wait to get started for what expects to be another highly competitive season in the SPFL Championship.

The creative midfielder doesn’t believe the Wasps have anything to fear despite being one of only two part-time teams left in the league because they have already shown just how well they can mix it with the very best and he fully expects them to do the same this time around.

Flannigan told Advertiser sport: “I am delighted to sign on at the club for another season and now that we are back in pre-season it is just about getting fit and gearing up for the first competitive game now. There won’t be many easy games in the league again much like last season, there is obviously still the big two in Hibs and Rangers as well, but we certainly don’t go in with anything to fear. We know it will be a very difficult and competitive league, but we will just take each game as it comes and look to do our best in each of them. It is important not to look too far ahead, but of course there are a number of new clubs in the league so it will be nice to go to the different venues.

“People will immediately label ourselves and Dumbarton as the favourites for relegation, and that is fine, but the part time teams have shown over the past few seasons that they can compete at this level and that is what we intend to do again. We have proven last year and over the past few seasons that we are capable of getting results against the full time teams and we will look to do that again this season.” Flannigan is now hoping that his injury woes are firmly behind him after recovering from a long-term back problem that kept him out for most of last season to return and play a key role in the Wasps’ great escape.

The stylish midfielder insists the club are now fully focused on their opening day trip to Palmerston Park to face their old familiar foes, Queen of the South, and previous recent meetings suggests it will be a difficult opener for them. He said: “I was delighted with the end to last season and the form I was in. Obviously, my main focus is to stay injury free because that has not gone how I would’ve liked for the past few seasons - that has been frustrating, but I am feeling good and enjoyed being apart of the run-in last year. Now I just can’t wait to get going again and hopefully it can be a great season for both myself and the club. Queen of the South away is such a difficult start for us and if you take out the big three last season then they finished the best of the rest and it is always a tough game down there. They have lost a lot of players like ourselves so it will be two almost completely different teams that meet on the first day of the season so we must make sure we peak for that game and are ready to go.” The 28-year-old has the astonishing record of scoring in both his appearances against Alan Stubbs’ Hibernian last season including a stunning match-winning free kick when the two sides met back in August. So he could be forgiven for having a glance down the fixture list towards their first clash with the Edinburgh giants, but the man himself is only focused on taking one game at a time.

Flannigan added: “Obviously, I would love to make it three goals in three games against Hibs, but I don’t think we can allow ourselves to look further than the first competitive game because that’s when things can come back to bite you.”