JIM GOODWIN admits he can't wait to return to Paisley and challenged his Wasps side to prove themselves against Premiership opposition.

Following their comfortable 3-0 win over Brechin on Saturday, Alloa were drawn to face St Mirren in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.

The Buddies are a side Goodwin holds close to his heart, having played there for six years and captained them to League Cup glory in 2013.

It will be the first time the Wasps manager returns to Paisley in a competitive capacity since leaving for Alloa in 2016 and the Irishman can't wait for the tie.

He told Advertiser Sport: "It's a great draw and when you're going away from home you want one of the Premiership boys.

"It will be my first time back in Paisley since I left two and a half years ago and it will be nice to see some old faces.

"People know my feelings towards the club and I really enjoyed my time there.

"But, I am looking forward to taking my Alloa team there as well because it's a game we can look forward to."

Alloa and St Mirren battled it out in the Championship not so long ago and although it's the latter who are now plying their trade in the country's top flight Goodwin is convinced his side can match their opponents when the time comes.

He added: "We go into every game thinking we can win it and we have nothing to fear.

"St Mirren will obviously be favourites being the Premiership team.

"But, it's a good opportunity for our boys to go there with nothing to fear and show what they can do."

The Wasp strolled past former manager Barry Smith's Brechin side in the third round at the Indodrill Stadium.

Goals from Greig Spence, Alan Trouten, and Dario Zanatta secured the Wasps' passage into the fourth round.

Goodwin said: "When the draw came out we knew the Brechin game was the potential to be a bit of banana skin.

"They are a decent team, but I thought my players managed the game brilliantly and it was a very professional performance from start to finish.

"We knew we would have a lot of the ball and I thought we moved it really well.

"Sometimes in games like that you can drop the tempo and things become mundane.

"But, we were always passing and probing and looking for the right opportunity to play forward.

"We finished 3-0 and we were delighted with that but we could have had another few goals on top of that."

The Wasp had headed into the game on Saturday off the back of a difficult week that saw them lose from two goals up at Edinburgh then conceded four at Robbie Neilson's high-flying Dundee United.

And they produced the perfect performance to bounce back and recover.

Goodwin added: "Against Edinburgh we were disappointed with the result and to go out on penalties and Tuesday night at Tannadice I actually thought we were excellent.

"People at the game probably thought it was easy for Dundee United, but I don't think the scoreline was a fair reflection on the game itself.

"I said to the boys before Saturday to go out and play as well as they can. We have been playing well of late, but maybe just not getting the results we deserve.

"Just delighted we could get a few goals on the board and give the fans something to cheer about."