Alloa Athletic vs Hearts preview - Options for Alloa

Posted Friday, October 10, 2014 by PA

Alloa entertain leaders Hearts at the Indodrill Stadium and manager Barry Smith has plenty of options available to choose from.

Jason Marr, Darryl Meggatt and David Weatherson have all recovered from knocks.

Greig Spence could also be available if he passes a fitness test but a back injury continues to keep Iain Flannigan absent.

Smith said: "We might have lost to Falkirk last weekend, however we can take a lot of confidence from the performance. We are a side that are creating a lot of chances and I am sure that we are capable of doing that against Hearts even though they are a top side."

Hearts boss Robbie Neilson insists he is happy to keep the games coming thick and fast after urging his men to extend their Scottish Championship lead to nine points.

While promotion rivals Rangers postponed Saturday's clash with Cowdenbeath after Marius Zaliukas, Bilel Mohsni and Dean Shiels were called up for national team duty, Hearts will go to Alloa looking to add to the six-point advantage they already hold.

Neilson - whose only dilema will be whether to play striker James Keatings (groin) on the Wasps' plastic pitch - said: "I'm quite happy that we can keep playing Saturday to Saturday. It's important that we keep in the routine and keep the flow, so I'm delighted.

"We don't have any players away on international duty, Alloa don't either so it's game on.

"It's a case of us looking after ourselves. We want to play Saturday to Saturday and we want to make sure we have a game that fans can go to on a Saturday.

"If we get another win then it gives us three points on the board and it's another game down. It's important that we try and do that. There's still a long, long way to go.

"We're under no illusions; it's going to be a difficult game. Rangers drew 1-1 and Hibs got beat. We know it's a difficult venue."

Hearts trained on the Indodrill Stadium's pitch this week after booking in as members of the public.

"It was good to go down and train on it," said Neilson. "It was really just to give the boys and idea of what the environment is going to be like and what the surface is going to be like."