Ross County midfielder Martin Woods arrived at Victoria Park just over a year ago to join a club struggling at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership and steeling itself for a relegation dogfight.
A year later the same club has not only survived but is quickly putting the spectre of relegation behind them by comfortably competing in the top six of the Scottish Premiership.
As years go, 2015 has been a pretty spectacular one for the Staggies and Woods, barring a two-month spell at Shrewsbury in July and August, has been at the heart of the County revival.
But he is not surprised at his club’s emergence in the top flight as he believes County is a team free from fear.
He said: “The main thing this season is that we don’t fear anyone at all. At times last season we played more defensively as we were struggling and it was the right thing to do but this season we know each other, we’ve found a system which works for us and that other teams find it hard to play against.
“We go into every game believing we can get a victory which has been the mentality since January. We were struggling up until January last season. I arrived in October and the difference even in January was huge to when I arrived.
“The mentality was completely different by the turn of the year and we relish going into games and we believe we are going to win. When I first came to the club there was an element of fear about the club.”
Woods has been one of the reasons for the club’s revival in 2015 but he is not alone with Jackson Irvine, Liam Boyce and Craig Curran helping provide a strong spine to the team in front of a well drilled defence.
But the Scot insists the credit should go to manager Jim McIntyre.
He said: “The manager has been a big part of changing that as he is the one who has found the system which the players are comfortable with and the confidence has come from that. There is clarity which is a big thing in football and everyone knows what their job is.
“When I first came to the club the manager was finding different things in terms of players and formations but since he has found it we’ve really kicked on.
“The 4-4-2 formation suits us as we are a high-pressing team which likes to get in the opposition’s faces. We didn’t press in the right areas against Celtic when we changed the formation but having the two up top sets the tone for us.
“It’s tough for teams to play out if you stop them at source and we have become good at stopping teams getting momentum.”
Stopping teams from building momentum is the task Woods and his team-mates face when the take on Aberdeen at Pittodrie today.
The Dons have struggled since their eight-game winning start to the campaign was brought to an end and have already lost to County this season.
Woods is eager to make it two wins out of two today.
He said: “Aberdeen are a really big club and, while they haven’t done well the last few weeks, they will be right up there come the end of the season. They are a big club with a big support behind them.
“If you can get ahead in games against the big teams it changes the complexion completely and that is what we will be trying to do this weekend.”