Happy selection poser for Stenhousemuir boss

Warriors moved to within a point of Queen’s Park at the foot of the League One table with a 3-0 win over the Glasgow side on their own Hampden turf last week.

The win was achieved without the services of Oliver Shaw, who was on Scotland under-19 duty, and the suspended Jamie McCormack. Both are available again for the visit to Alloa, although Willis Furtado remains banned and Jack Smith, a sub at Hampden, is unavailable.

Ferguson and his players go into the game in good heart, boosted by Saturday’s win and the knowledge that they have already caused problems for title chasers Alloa during a 2-2 draw at Ochilview in September.

The Warriors boss said: “It was a really important win for us [against Queen’s Park] on paper. If we had lost we would have found ourselves cast adrift a little bit at the foot of the table.

“But the 3-0 result gets us very close to Queen’s Park and gives the players to chance to try to follow that up with another positive result on Saturday.

“The most pleasing thing was the general performance and three goals and a clean sheet, given the run we have had, should give us a big boost.

“Strange as it may sound, I don’t think our performances have been all that bad, but the problem we have had is that when we’ve been losing goals the heads have gone down and we haven’t reacted the way we should.

“But on Saturday we didn’t concede. We got the first goal and then didn’t allow Queen’s Park a period in the game when they could put us under any sustained pressure.

“Overall I was really, really pleased with what I thought was just a disciplined, composed and assured performance.

“With respect to Queen’s Park we know that we face a step up in quality with the players that Alloa have.

“But with the win on Saturday and the knowledge that we have already drawn with Alloa this season, we can go there with confidence and the belief that we are capable of putting in a performance which would allow us to come away with a positive result.”