GUTTED Alloa star Graeme Holmes says they must quickly forget about the disappointment of their 5-1 defeat to Rangers last weekend.

The Wasps’ star had an up and down game where he created his side’s only goal for Michael Chopra, before then going up the other end and conceding a penalty.

But he insists it is vital the squad don’t dwell on the crushing loss to the Glasgow giants.

Elgin City are the visitors to the Indodrill Stadium tonight (Wednesday) and the experienced midfielder believes having a game so quickly is the perfect chance for them to go and right the wrongs of last weekend.

Holmes told Advertiser sport: “It is a good thing for us that there is a game on Wednesday because it gives us an opportunity to quickly go and put things right before a tough trip to Raith at the weekend.

“We need to take a long hard look at ourselves, know that we have to improve and it has got to start with the Elgin game. I am sure we will get a postive reaction from all the boys as we look to bounce back because there absolutely has to be a big reaction.

“A win would be massive for us because we need to get the belief and confidence back that only a victory can provide.

“There weren’t too many positives to take from the game, but we will look forward and not back. It was a nice feeling to be involved in the goal and ‘Chops’ has done the hard bit with a stunning finish, but then I have killed the lads by conceding a penalty at the other end a few minutes later.

“I wasn’t trying to tackle him, I was just running to get back and help out the defence, but we’ve collided and I can have no complaints, it’s a definite penalty. I let the boys down with that, but hopefully I can make up for it at some point.” Holmes says the players are fully aware of how badly they let the club down last weekend and says it is time for them to stand up and be counted as they look to bounce straight back.

The former Dundee United trainee believes that Rangers will go on to prove themselves as this season’s runaway league winners and will dominate the title race in the same way Hearts did last term.

He said: “It was a very disappointing afternoon for us and it was very tough for us to take. Rangers are a very good team, but we just didn’t do ourselves justice and made life very easy for them. There are no excuses for being as poor as we were.

“We had instructions and the right preparations from the manager on how to nullify their threat, but we just couldn’t carry them out and once we crossed that white line we have let ourselves and the supporters down.

“We always knew the league would be a hard task again this season for us, but I see Rangers as this season’s Hearts.

“I don’t see them dropping many points and I think bigger teams than ourselves will have to endure the type of afternoon that we have.

“The manager has given us everything we need to compete in this league so we need to step up and deliver for him. Outwith Rangers and Hibs there are no other stand out sides so I think it will be a very tight and competitive league in behind them.” Alloa travel to Raith Rovers this weekend in another tricky league encounter for a reunion with Wasps‘ legend Ryan McCord, but his former team-mates says the full focus will be on getting their own Championship season up and running.

Holmes added: “The sooner we get up and running with our first league win the better because we are desperate to go out and achieve something special this season. We don’t want to struggle through the season, but we have a lot of work on to stop that happening.

“It will be good to catch up with ‘Pongo’ on Saturday, he has started well at Raith and scored a goal. They have started well and got a win on the board early, but it is a game we are more than capable of winning and that is what we will look to do.”