Peterhead manager Jim McInally is looking for a 90-minute performance from his side as they aim to return to winning ways.
After two defeats the Blue Toon are back in action against East Fife this afternoon at Balmoor.
In the losses to Falkirk (2-1) last weekend and Forfar (1-0) a fortnight ago, McInally was happy with the Buchan outfit’s second half displays.
However, on both occasions they trailed at half-time and were unable to claw back the deficit.
Scotland’s longest-serving manager says they can’t afford to start slow if they want to rediscover the winning feeling against East Fife.
McInally said: “We just need to try to avoid making mistakes, it’s been individual errors that have cost us so cutting them out is the big thing.
“The other thing we need to do is to put together a 90-minute performance, then we’d be hard to beat when I look at the way we’ve played in the second halves against Falkirk and Forfar.
“I’m not daft I know we can’t go out and dominate a team for 90 minutes, but it’s when you’re not having a dominant period you need to be solid and make sure you stay in the game and not end up chasing it.”
McInally wants to see his players getting on the front foot and putting demands on each other from the first whistle against the Methil men.
He added: “After games you hear the players speaking about stupid goals against and things like that.
“But that’s only part of the problem, individually they need to look in the mirror and ask themselves ‘why am I waiting until the 46th minute to start demanding the ball and putting demands on myself?’
“They need to do that from the start and not wait to see what the other team are going to do.
“It’s felt a bit like that where we’re waiting to see what the other team is going to do or if they’re going to come at us – but we need to be on the front foot from the start.”
For Peterhead, the clash with Darren Young’s Fifers is sandwiched between away fixtures with full-time sides Falkirk and Partick Thistle.
Although some observers would suggest this game is their best chance of the three to get a win, McInally insists that’s now how the Blue Toon are thinking.
He said: “Of course people think this is the game of the three we’ve got the best chance of winning – but we don’t think like that.
“We’ve got to go into every game and believe we have a chance of taking something from it.
“That’s what was disappointing last Saturday. It felt in the first half like we were waiting for Falkirk to beat us because that’s what people expected to happen.
“And there’s no excuse for that because we’ve already proved in games this season that we can compete with full-time teams.
“So that’s out the window. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. East Fife at home for me is just as tough as going to Firhill next week.
“We’ll go there and the pressure will be on Thistle and we can enjoy it playing on a good pitch.
“I know the fixtures come thick and fast and they’re hard games, but it’s not a case of looking to get something out of one. We’re looking to get something out of every game.”
