THE Alloa Athletic Women’s team will be aiming to hit the ground running this season, with new signings joining up with the bulk of last season's squad.

Gaffer Charles Dignan has now taken the reins at the club, following the departure of Allan Salvona and interim manager Sean Black.

Dignan was quick to get to work, signing on a group of core players from the last campaign and pulling in a few more.

“Training has been really good,” he told Advertiser Sport. “We’ve been getting some really good numbers there.

“It’s a good atmosphere; players are enjoying it, and they’re training with a smile on their face which is fantastic to see.

“We’re trying to set the expectation now for going forward which is to have a great environment to train and the girls are working hard.”

Alloa have managed to retain a good number of players from the previous season, which saw them finish 4th in the Biffa West league.

Captain Abbie Trotter will be back to lead the team, alongside Amy Cully, Hayley Preece, Heather Bundy, Kayleigh Johnston, Alex Hyde, Zoe Swanson, Heather Dickson, Louisa Keller, Morgan Teears, Maisie McNamara, Olivia Young, Shelby Johnston and Cree Connell.

Dignan has also made a number of new signings including Jess Marland from Hutchison Vale, Kira Sutter from East Fife and Chloe Pearson from Stenhousemuir.

Ebony Duncan, Brooke McDonald and Meghan Hood will also form part of the squad for next season.

Amid the group of new signings, Dignan looked to bring in players he has worked with before into the new squad.

He added: “I’ve brought in Kira Sutter who was at East Fife at the same time as I was.

“She was the number one goalkeeper for the club at the time when they got promoted from the Championship to the SWPL 2.

“We’ve got Kayleigh [Johnston] as well, so, hopefully, between the two of them, they’ll bounce off of each other well and we’ll definitely be looking to utilise both of them for sure.”

The team will officially get to work as they kick off their pre-season friendly schedule with a visit from East Fife, Dignan’s former club, on July 9.

This will be followed by an away trip to McDermid Ladies and then back-to-back home games against Edinburgh South and Elgin City.

“I’m feeling good about the friendlies,” Dignan added. “They’ve been chosen to let us see where we are as we progress through pre-season.

“It’s just by chance that East Fife is the first team, but it’s quite fitting as that will give me a real gauge of where we are since I know them.

“I’m not worried about results, to be perfectly honest, I’m more interested in how we compete and how we gel as a team.

“That will show me what we either still need or the strengths that we currently have at a club.

“All the teams that we’ve chosen are currently operating at our level – some of them have admitted they’re going for promotion as well.

“That’s where we need to set the bar for ourselves to find out how we are amongst the teams that are in our level.

“If we compete well and we come out better, then we know we’re in good stead. If we don’t, then we know we still have some work to do.”

Alloa Athletic Women’s FC is back in action this Sunday, July 9, against East Fife.