IT'S Monday morning and Kevin O'Hara is still drying off from a makeshift training session two days before.

A blocked drain and Biblical showers might have put paid to Alloa's game against Arbroath, but O'Hara joined his team-mates on drier ground as boss Peter Grant made up for lost time.

Anyone who was unlucky enough to venture into Saturday's tsunami would understand if he would have rather swapped time on the pitch for the chance to enjoy Saturday's football back in bed.

But, for O'Hara it was just another chance to be out doing what he loves in an environment in which he's thriving.

The 21-year-old is happy, confident, and, most importantly, back to loving his football and it's showing on the pitch.

It will come as little surprise, then, that Alloa had to fend off the advances of teams offering better wages to secure the striker's signature until the end of the season.

O'Hara is clear, however, that he wasn't interested in going anywhere and his only concern is paying back the faith shown in him by Grant when he brought him to Alloa in the summer.

He only ever asked for a second chance and the opportunity to prove careless words as a teenager towards Dean Shiels would not be what defined his life. It was Grant who was prepared to give him that chance.

"He has been good for me and he gave me the chance at the time when maybe others wouldn't have," O'Hara says. "He's known me since I was a young boy and I need to thank him for giving me the chance to play at Alloa and getting the platform to get my name out there again.

"I'm delighted to be staying on and I feel I have done well on a personal level like I wanted to at the start of the season.

"If I am playing games every week for the next six months, then that is only going to be good for me.

"Getting a run in the team, playing 90 minutes most week, and a manager who has faith in me (have all been crucial to O'Hara's form). Every week I am getting more confident and the biggest thing is playing every week.

"I probably lost the last coupe of years.

"I could have moved on and been a squad player but I just felt that as I have not played a lot of games in my career the last couple of years that the best thing to do was to stay at Alloa."

O'Hara is on the way to the gym as he talks to Advertiser Sport, fresh from helping out in a coaching session at a local school where he's been loving the chance to help youngsters find the same love for the sport he has.

It's just another sign of how well he's adapted to life in Clacks since making the switch - but, it's on the pitch where O'Hara wasted little time in endearing himself to the Wasps.

He's netted winners against Dundee United and Dunfermline Athletic, and with every minute on the pitch he brings enough energy to power most of Scotland.

Much like Grant, he puts his success down to the trust shown in him by his team-mates, who have given him the room to try the extraordinary with no fear of repercussion if it doesn't quite come off.

"They have put a lot of confidence in me and they let me try stuff even when I don't get it right," he continues. "But, they give me the confidence to try it again.

"They encourage me to get back on the ball and try things again and make things happen.

"The last couple of years I lost that and was trying to play it safe and maybe play that extra pass."

Alloa face Inverness Caley Thistle on Saturday in the Scottish Cup before returning to league action with the rearranged fixture with Arbroath on Tuesday.

They may be bottom of the table, but as far as O'Hara is concerned they are nowhere near down and out in the bid to avoid the Championship drop.

"We're still confident we can do the job and stay in the league and we haven't given up yet," he says. "The league is really tight and the squad is still in high spirits we can do it.

"We want to keep up with the pack and pick up results and just see where it takes us."