Robbo issues a Wasps warning

CALEY Thistle manager John Robertson insists Alloa Athletic’s part-time status counts for nothing ahead of tomorrow’s Championship encounter at Caledonian Stadium.

Alloa go into the game occupying the relegation play-off spot, with fellow part-time outfit Arbroath, who face Dundee tonght, below them at the foot of the table.

The Wasps make the trip north fresh from defeating Inverness 2-1 in their last meeting at Recreation Park last month, however, while they also knocked league leaders Hearts out of the Betfred Cup earlier in the season.

Robertson insists Peter Grant’s men have proven to be worthy of their Championship status and says anybody underestimating their threat does so at their peril.

He said: “Just because they are part-time does not mean they are bad players, they are not fit and that we are automatically going to beat them.

“Part-time Alloa beat Hearts, who have spent £6 million.

“We are not allowed to bet but if football was predictable everybody else would be millionaires as they would know exactly what the outcomes of games would be.

“That’s the intricacies of football. If you are organised, which Alloa and Arbroath are, and they both have good players, they will create.

“They are not in this league for no reason. You wouldn’t have big clubs like Partick Thistle and Falkirk in League One if they were, and Falkirk lost to Peterhead last week.

“If everything went to normal, Caley Thistle would never have won promotion or won the Scottish Cup, or caused all the cup upsets over the years. It’s the unpredictability of football.”

Robertson, who had an 18-month spell as East Fife manager between 2010 and 2012, feels there is no less physical demands on part-time players compared to his own full-time players.

He added: “Part-time means nothing these days. I was manager of East Fife and with the amount of work they do on Tuesday and Thursday training sessions, you are only maybe missing out on one session.”