East Fife vs Alloa preview - Brown worries ahead of first game

Newly appointed East Fife manager Billy Brown takes charge of his side for the first time for the visit of Alloa and he has a selection headache with four players ruled out through injury.

Darren McCormack and Jordan Forster will be missing from the Fifers defence and their attack will be without Gareth Wardlaw and Paul McManus for a match that Brown says will tell him a lot about his new squad.

"I have had one training session but I reckon I will learn more about the team in this game especially as it is between two sides that are looking to bounce back from disappointing Scottish Cup exits," Brown said.

"Alloa may have lost 7-0 to Rangers but our 5-1 defeat up at Elgin was probably a worse result."

Alloa will be missing defender Michael Doyle at New Bayview following his red card against Rangers last weekend in the Scottish Cup.

The Wasps will be able to select Aberdeen striker Mitchel Megginson though after an extended loan deal was agreed, with manager Paul Hartley telling his troops to forget about their 7-0 Ibrox defeat and get back to business as usual in the league.

Hartley said: "That is over and done with now and everyone is focusing on the Second Division again. We have a really tough game against a side that has a new manager so we have been working on that instead of going over the Rangers game."