Wasps midfielder Steven Hetherington hopes to nail down a first team spot in Danny Lennon’s new look side ahead of the new SPFL Championship season.

The former Motherwell trainee endured a frustrating season on the sidelines last term under former Barry Smith, but was given a new lease of life by the new gaffer and now he hopes to repay his faith with performances on the pitch this season.

Hetherington told Advertiser sport: “I am delighted to have signed on again with the club because I have loved my time here. Obviously, there have been a lot of changes under the new manager this summer with a number of the lads moving on and some of them staying on.

“A change of manager always gives every player a second chance and I really enjoyed working with the manager in the final weeks of the season when I got my chance and so I am really looking forward to this season now.

“It was a strange season for me last year where I was in for a couple of games and then I never played for months, but the gaffer came in and showed a bit of belief in me to give me my chance and so now it is up to me to knuckle down and try to repay him for that.

“I would love to get a consistent run of games under my belt to show what I can do. There were some amazing moments last season such as the cup game against Rangers where I played my part in the winning goal. Those are the sort of moments you play football for and hopefully we can have a few more nights like that this coming season.” Hetherington admits that the Wasps found the league very difficult at times last season, but knows they will need to be even better this time around in what he sees as an even tougher test in the SPFL Championship this term.

He said: “If we thought the league was tough last year then it is certainly going to be every bit as tough this year. St Mirren will be a good addition to the league along with Hibs and Rangers then you have a good full time team like Morton coming back in so we know how difficult it will be, but I also believe we can compete.

“There is no doubt it is a tough start for us with our first home game against Rangers and then four out the first six games being away, but you have to play these games and it also means we have three out of our last four games at home again which could be crucial for us in the run-in because teams don’t like to come here. Our home form will once again be crucial to us next season, but it should be like that for any team.

“Rangers really struggled against us last season and that is something we can take confidence from and look to use when we meet this season. We were unlucky not to beat them on a few occasions and so I don’t think we have anything to fear from these teams anymore.” The Wasps enjoyed early season success against the likes of Hibs and Rangers last August, and while the 22-year-old admits a repeat of that would be nice, he reckons they must instead focus on beating the teams around them in the table.

Hetherington added: “The Hibs win back in August then the draw with Rangers are the results that everyone remembers early on last season and something like that can give us the belief to kick on this term again.

“The main thing we need to improve this season though is that we never really seemed to pick up points from the teams around us until the very end. If we can do that this term then I think we will be alright.

“We are just all excited to get the pre-season games underway and get the show on the road once again.”