Alloa star Dougie Hill says he is ready to give his all for the club after being appointed as club captain for the upcoming season.

The former Raith Rovers and Cowdenbeath defender put in a man-of-the-match performance to steer his side through a tricky tie away to Brora Rangers last weekend and reckons the armband can help him to finally deliver his best form that he feels like he owes the club.

The 30-year-old, who watched on as the Wasps lost out to Livingston in last year’s Petrofac Cup final to Livingston, is proud to be the new captain and admits he would love to emulate the cup success of last term or maybe even better it.

Hill told Advertiser sport: “I was at the final watching Liam Buchanan, who is one of my good mates, and the club did well just to get there. It would be brilliant if we could do it again and so we will try our best to deliver that for the fans.

“It is an honour to be captain of any club and I have had the armband at Raith and Cowdenbeath before, but it is a special responsibility for me to be asked by Danny Lennon to lead Alloa because I know the club so well. There was already an extra incentive for me to do well at the club because I don’t think I’ve shown what I can do in my previous spells here, but the armband certainly gives me another edge again.

“To be the guy that people will look to when the chips are down is a real honour for me and I certainly intend to give my all. We would love to emulate the club’s success in the competition last season.” Hill led his side into the second round of the Petrofac Cup with the 1-0 win in the Highlands and while he was pleased with their defensive display, he reckons Richard Brittain’s men deserve a lot of credit for pushing them all the way.

He said: “Brora was definitely a tough afternoon for us. We played Keith, Inverurie and Huntly in the build up, but in fairness Brora are miles ahead of those teams. They have players like Grant Munro, Richard Brittain and Stuart Kettlewell, who are Scottish Premier league experienced, so we always knew it would be a tough afternoon, but I was still shocked a little by just how good they were.

“We dominated the game in the first half and in fact I don’t think they had a shot on target until later on in the game.

“If we had scored earlier then maybe we could have made life a bit easier for ourselves, but to be fair to Brora they actually came right back into it when we got our goal and had a great spell themselves.

“They pinned us back late, but defensively we held strong and limited them to very few shots on goal. It was a pleasing defensive display, the gaffer wasn’t happy with everything and there are maybe a few things that we won’t get away with in the league, we got away with them in this one and got the win though so that is the main thing.” The skipper believes that the new-look Wasps squad can only get better as they familiarise themselves with each other and he is looking forward to forming a regular defensive partnership with whoever wins the battle between Jason Marr, Catalin Paun and Mikk Reintam.

Hill added: “We are a completely new team and so most of the lads are still getting used to one and other so we are only going to get better.

“A lot of the guys have all come from different clubs and only a few who stayed on from last year so these things take time.

“It has been a different player every week in defence so far, but as soon as I get a partnership formed with whoever it may be out of Jason, Mikk and Cata, then I’m sure we can gel together quickly and hit the ground running.

“We can only get better from here as a team overall and I am confident we can do well this season."