While Scott Ross has been pleased with the level of his own performances this season, it counts for nothing if Cove Rangers fail to win.
Ross has been a consistent performer so far this campaign at the heart of the defence, moving infield from the full-back position he spent most of last year.
Injuries and illness have hampered the Cove defence probably more than any other area, with Harry Milne, Shay Logan, Ryan Strachan and Jevan Anderson all missing games.
Ross has partnered Morgyn Neill at centre-back for the last two games, including the draw against Montrose last weekend.
“I’ve been performing reasonably well and I’m happy with what I’m doing,” he said. “But your performance means nothing if the team is not winning, so I’ve just got to keep performing and the team can start picking up three points week in week out.
“Centre-back is the position I’ve played all my life. I can do a job at right-back and I’ll play wherever the manager needs me.
“But centre-back is my position and I know it really well. Maybe that’s a reason I’ve been performing slightly better in the last few weeks.”
“We’ve showed signs of what we can do but we need to do it a lot more throughout the 90 minutes. As a Cove team we’re used to winning games and being at the top of the table but the start of this season has been a wee bit stop-start.”
Cove sit fifth in the table, heading into tomorrow’s trip to Peterhead, in what has been a solid start to the 2021-22 campaign for last year’s play-off outfit.
“Performances at the start of this season, we’ve not been playing to our full potential but I believe we’re slowly getting there,” added Ross. “We’re not used to not winning every week but it’s something only we can turn round by putting in performances and working hard in training to achieve the goal of winning games.
“Results haven’t been falling the way we’ve been playing – we’ve been unlucky with a couple of things going against us – but it’s swings and roundabouts in football.
“In the next couple of weeks I’m sure we’ll start taking chances and putting teams to bed.”
Ross will be facing his old club when Cove head north on Saturday but treats it no differently from any other game.
He said: “I’ve obviously got history of being an ex-Peterhead player but it’s just another game. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully we can perform and get the three points.
“Balmoor can be a fortress for them. Jim McInally has the team working hard and they’re hard to break down. But if we play our free-flowing football then we’ve got every chance of taking three points.
“Peterhead are a very strong outfit and I’ll be surprised if they’re not up at the top end of the table this year, with the strength in depth in their squad.”