Ross wary of shock on his return to Alloa

HIBS boss Jack Ross will always be thankful to Alloa for giving him his start in management. But there will be no room for sentiment when his Hibs team try to stop the Wasps completing a capital double in tonight’s Betfred Cup quarter-final at the Indodrill Stadium. Wary of the Championship side after they knocked out Hearts in the previous round, Ross said: ‘Alloa are a brilliant club and were huge for the development of my career. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity they gave me. I still speak regularly with a lot of people at the club. ‘I was over at one of their matches recently, so I know how difficult a match it will be. ‘It doesn’t surprise me they produced the kind of result that they did in the last round. There are still a number of players there who I signed, while they have a very experienced and capable manager in Peter Grant.’ Ross, whose side sit third in the Premiership after Saturday’s 4-0 drubbing of Hamilton, is also determined to make up for the disappointment of losing to Hearts in their delayed Scottish Cup semi-final. ‘When you get to semis and fall short, it is painful and does hurt,’ he said. ‘But we’ve got a group who want to keep giving themselves the chance of going that step or two further forward.’ Meanwhile, Ross is not putting a timescale on Scott Allan’s return to action despite the playmaker rejoining his team-mates for training after an unspecified health matter. He said: ‘We don’t want to put any kind of pressure on him to be available by a certain time.’ Kick-off: 8pm, Indodrill Stadium. LIVE: Premier Sports 1.