ALLOA defender Kyle Benedictus reckons he and his team-mates can show they have the ability to pass their opponents off the park.

The on-loan Dundee star was the stand-out performer for Barry Smith’s side as they went down 1-0 at Falkirk on Saturday.

And though the Wasps displayed their footballing credentials in spells against the Bairns, they were guilty of going back to front on a number of occasions as they sought to find a breakthrough.

Benedictus, however, feels his side possess the craft to stretch any defence in the league and has called on his side to prove him right.

He said: “I think you can see on the pitch that we like to the get the ball down and play. And from that we have been creating chances and turning in good performances.

“We work on short passing in training and I think it is our best asset when we keep the ball on the ground.

“It’s not as though teams can say we simply boot the ball forward. We don’t do that.

“The boys still have confidence to play the right way and we do to keep the ball and pass it.” While Alloa aim to break down teams in the final third, Benedictus knows his side must keep the back door shut if they are to climb up the table.

He added: “The problem is that we are conceding sloppy goals and its the same old story just now. Sometimes “Sometimes we need to just hook the ball and play on and not try to play out of defence and that was what happened against Falkirk.

“We had chances, especially in the first half where we could have scored two or three goals but it just wouldn’t go in the back of the net.

“It’s been that way for the past three or four weeks now but we need to pick ourselves up because there are some imporant games ahead.” The Wasps winter schedule has brought games against the league’s play-off chasers and continues next week with the visit of Rangers.

And despite a run of ‘poor luck’, Benedictus insists his side won’t be feeling sorry for themselves come Saturday.

He said: “Heads are low at the moment because we haven’t been getting the results we feel we deserve but we are playing well.

“It’s not like there has been slack performances; we’re just not getting the rub of the green.

“Still, we need to pick up more points because we’re starting to become adrift from the rest of the league.

“We’ve had a difficult run with the last few games with Hearts, Hibs, Queens and now Falkirk. Those were some really hard fixtures and now we have Rangers next week.

“We need to move on quickly from the Falkirk result; next week is the most important game now.”