Alloa loan star Michael Duffy is relishing the challenge of helping the club turn around their poor early season form in the SPFL Championship.

The young Northern Irishman, who is on loan at the club from Glasgow Celtic until January, has been a shining light for the Clackmannanshire club this season despite the results after being given the freedom to express himself by boss Danny Lennon.

And now the exciting talent admits he is desperate to repay that faith with a goal as the Wasps prepare for their crunch clash at home to Greenock Morton this weekend.

Duffy told Advertiser sport: “The result last weekend was hugely disappointing for us, but there are a number of positives to take from it. I am enjoying it here at Alloa because I am getting loads of game time and a lot of time on the ball.

“I just need that first goal now to give me a boost. I should have done better with the one in the first half against Raith and it is frustrating at times, but hopefully it will come in the next game against Morton.

“Danny has been great with me because he encourages me to get on the ball, get turned and run at defenders. I enjoyed the Raith game because I had the freedom to do that. It is great to work with a manager who has that belief in what you can do and so hopefully I can repay him with my performances on the pitch.

“The Morton game is now a huge one for us and it is one we want to go and win. We can take positives from the Raith game despite the result and it is all about how we apply those against Morton. The main thing though is that we go out, be more positive and put on a good show for the fans and hopefully that will lead to our first three points. Morton are a newly promoted team and so this is a game at home where we really need to look to win.” Duffy reckons the Wasps first half showing was cause for optimism as they more than held their own at Stark’s Park, but admits the whole squad let their heads drop as soon as they fell behind.

He said: “We were delighted going in level at the break especially given the way we had been trailing 3-0 and 4-1 in our first two league games. We were well in the game and created some good opportunities. I think we would’ve been a bit unlucky not to get something out the game if it had continued like the first half, but after the first goal, our heads went down and we struggled from there.We need to react better to conceding goals.

The 21-year-old winger says the whole squad are aware of just how competitive the SPFL Championship is going to be this season and he reckons they must learn to hang tough when games are not going their way.

Duffy added: “This is a competitive league so we will have to start showing some character and bounce back in games where we go behind. Raith’s opener is a great strike so there is very little you can do about a goal like that. But their quick-fire second goal kills us because if we had kept it at 1-0 for a spell then I think we could have fought our way back into it, but it wasn’t to be.”