Kieran Freeman hopes he can help Peterhead keep plenty of clean sheets this season – regardless of where he is asked to play.
The on loan Dundee United full-back is set to line up for the Blue Toon against Montrose this afternoon at Links Park.
Last week Balmoor manager Jim McInally switched Freeman to centre-back to help snuff out the threat of David Goodwillie as the Buchan outfit beat Clyde 2-0 at Broadwood.
The 20-year-old enjoyed the experience and felt he learned a lot from playing against former Aberdeen, Dundee United, Ross County, Blackburn Rovers and Scotland striker Goodwillie.
Freeman is happy to fill in wherever McInally needs him this term.
He said: “I actually really enjoyed it. I much prefer playing anywhere across the defence than further up the pitch.
“I just like defending and we had to do plenty of that. I don’t know if I’ll end up playing at centre-back again, but I just hope I’m playing somewhere. As long as I’m playing I’ll do my best and try to do a job for the team.
“It’s good experience for me as well playing centre-back against experienced players in first-team games where winning matters.
“That type of experience is vital for me and it’s something you don’t get in academy games, it’s a totally different environment, it’s all about the three points every week and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.
“When you’re playing against somebody who has had the career Goodwillie has you learn even more.
“Even just things like little shoves he gives you at times is just him being intelligent and trying to get an advantage.
“You don’t get that in youth games, players make it easier to play against them, and playing against somebody like Goodwillie you see what a clever player he is.”
Peterhead recorded their first win of the League One campaign against Clyde last weekend, it was also their first league clean sheet.
Freeman is hopeful of building on those feats against Montrose today.
He added: “It was good to keep a clean sheet last week because as a defender that’s your job to keep clean sheets. We knew Goodwillie could be a big threat for Clyde, but we limited them to only a couple of shots on target and the whole defence played well.
“If you can defend like that it you give yourself a great chance of winning games. It was great to win at Clyde and the changing room was buzzing after the game so we want to build on it.
“I know it was only a couple of games into the season but you don’t want to be stuck on zero points for long. Everyone is confident going into this game and hopefully we’ll manage to get another three points on the board.
“They’re a good side Montrose and they’ve had a few good results so it’ll be a tough game I’m sure. If you look at the results each week any team can beat anyone else. Clyde beat Partick Thistle a couple of weeks ago and then we beat them last week.
“If you take your chances and can keep clean sheets then you always give yourself a good chance.”
