Peterhead manager Jim McInally reckons Scott Brown is back to his best after a challenging off-season.
The Blue Toon skipper had discussions with Falkirk over a return to full-time football in the summer, which fell through and Brown returned to Peterhead.
Brown has proved to be the match-winner for McInally’s side the last two weekends, scoring a spectacular winner against East Fife and netting the only goal in the impressive 1-0 win over Partick Thistle.
McInally said: “He’s back to his best again and I felt he was better than anything Partick Thistle had in midfield on Saturday. Don’t get me wrong, we had strong performances in there from Simon Ferry and Kieran Freeman too.
“But I’m really pleased with him in general because I see him back to where he was last season. His attitude is always brilliant, even when he wasn’t playing as well as he can do, but I see him now and know he’s back at it.
“We’ve got a few players in the team – Simon and the example he sets, Gary (MacKenzie) keeping us tight at the back. I think that sets everybody off and they all set an example for each other.
“Scott’s not a natural leader – shouting and bawling as a captain – but those guys make it a wee bit easier for him and he feeds off that.”
Saturday’s win over Partick Thistle was the first time in a year the Blue Toon had won back-to-back league games.
They are straight back to it tonight against Montrose, with the game brought forward from Boxing Day at the request of both clubs.
McInally, however, will be counting the cost of injuries picked up in the win at Firhill. He has doubts over Gary MacKenzie, Simon Ferry, Ryan Conroy and Andy McCarthy for the game at Balmoor tonight.
The one saving grace for the Peterhead players is that they will have the Christmas period without a game, as their next fixtures is a short trip to Cove on January 2.
He added: “I said to them to get up as early as they can tomorrow, we’ll dust them down and see how they are. They’re going to get a wee break, that’s the good way to look at it.
“Obviously we’ll not take a chance with anybody who’s got a serious muscle injury but we’ll see how they are.”
