Alloa Athletic VS Ross County Match Prediction

Ross County have visited Alloa on 21 occasions, with the hosts claiming eight wins in those matches, while Ross County have six wins from this fixture, so the head-to-head is very tight.

In fact, Ross County have not won at Alloa for over a decade, with Alloa unbeaten in Ross County's last four visits, a run dating back to February 2003.

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Alloa Athletic v Ross County: Prediction

Ross County should be the stronger team, as they are in the Scottish top-flight, while Alloa play in Scottish League One, but Alloa have shown strong form in the Scottish League Cup so far. The holders are in danger of suffering an embarrassingly early exit unless they get a positive result here, so McIntyre's men will certainly be motivated to pull off a vital victory in this cup tie.

Alloa Athletic v Ross County: Betting Tips

Ross County are the favourites for this game and they can be backed at odds of 8/11 to get their second win of the competition, while outsiders Alloa are 4/1 to maintain their 100 per cent record in the Betfred Cup North Group D. However, the draw could be the best option on the match odds market, offered at a price of 3/1. Alloa are certainly capable of pulling off a shock here, so Alloa draw no bet appeals at a big price of 13/5, while the 7/1 on a correct score of 1-1 looks very big.

Alloa Athletic are riding high in the Betfred Cup North Group D, winning their two opening fixtures of the Scottish League Cup to put themselves in a strong position in the competition. But the visit of Ross County will be a tough test after Cove Rangers and Montrose were both beaten without a goal being conceded.

Manager Jack Ross will keep Greig Spence and Isaac Layne up front after their fine start to the season, with few changes expected from the team that won at Montrose a few days ago.

Alloa Athletic likely XI: 

Parry, Graham, Taggart, Marr, Waters, Flannigan, Holmes, Robertson, Hetherington, Spence, Layne.

Scottish League Cup holders Ross County will be hoping to defend their title, but they have not got off to the greatest of starts and currently lie in third place in the Betfred Cup North Group D. Like Alloa, Ross County won at Montrose, but in their most recent fixture they could only draw 1-1 at home to Raith Rovers, losing the tie on a penalty shoot-out.

Jim McIntyre may therefore rotate the Ross County squad for this game, although with only the group winners guaranteed to go through to the next round, he cannot afford to take too many risks with his team selection.

Ross County likely XI: 

Fox, Foster, McEveley, Robertson, Cikos, van der Weg, Gardyne, Woods, McShane, Curran, Boyce.

A penalties loss to Raith Rovers last time out has put Ross County in danger of going out in the group stage, which would be a disappointing way to defend their Scottish League Cup title. The new format has given the smaller teams a chance to upset the big boys and Alloa will see this tie as a chance to pull off a scalp. A draw looks to be the most likely result, with the bonus point up for grabs for the penalty shoot-out victors going to the hosts.

Only once in the last 10 meetings between Alloa and Ross County have both teams not scored, but that was Ross County\'s last visit to Recreation Park, which was a 2-0 home win.