Four Peterhead players have agreed to stay with the club for next season.
Boss Jim McInally has started talks with the Blue Toon squad as he prepares for next term and defenders Ryan Conroy and Andrew McDonald and midfielders Simon Ferry and Gary Fraser have all agreed to remain at Balmoor.
Conroy’s consistency
Conroy, 34, joined the Buchan outfit two years ago and made 20 appearances this term before a hamstring injury suffered against Partick Thistle last month ended his campaign.
McInally said: “In such a short season, it’s hard to pick a player of the year, but if I was picking one Ryan Conroy would be up there.
“His fitness has been really good and he’s stepped into the left-back position and you’d have thought he’d played there for 10 years.
“That’s because he’s got good intelligence and a good football brain.
“His fitness levels have gone through the roof. Since lockdown came in he’s got himself in a really good place in terms of fitness.
“When it’s come to training and the fitness tests he’s been right up there, so he’s been a credit to himself.
“He’s also got that great left foot, which gives us a good balance and is very useful at set-pieces.”
Ferry contributing on and off the pitch
Player-coach Ferry has been with Peterhead for six years.
The 33-year-old made 17 appearances this season and McInally praised his contribution on and off the pitch.
He added: “When he’s on the park he barely gives the ball away and he plays the game with great enthusiasm.
“But away from that he’s got to take a lot of credit for his training sessions.
“He gets the boys working hard and playing high pressing football and next season that’s something that will be vital for us.
“If you look at how the league will be next season, we will play a lot of games where the other team will have more of the ball.”
McDonald ready to kick on
Former Elgin player McDonald joined Peterhead from St Cadoc’s in January and has made nine appearances.
McInally said: “He’s 22, so he’s still a young boy and he’s been a real bonus for us.
“We spoke to Elgin players before we signed him and Shane Sutherland (now with Inverness Caley Thistle) spoke highly of him as well.
“We’re getting him in a better frame of mind now. Andrew was a typical young player that had been released by a Premiership club.
“He was totally disillusioned with the game after leaving St Mirren (in 2018), but he’s in a better frame of mind now where he knows he can be a good part-time player, have a good job and have a good life.
“And I’ve said to him if he can keep improving then there is a way back for him at a higher level, because good centre-backs are hard to find and good left-sided centre-backs are even harder to find.”
Standing by Fraser
Fraser played 11 times this season before dislocating his knee cap in December with the 26-year-old working his way back to fitness.
McInally said: “We wanted to do the right thing by Gary and try to get him back fit.
“Gary was doing well for us before his injury and we all know what he can do with the ability he’s got.
“He was worried about the situation and if he wasn’t fit in time for pre-season that he wouldn’t have a club.
“But our club doesn’t work like that. If you get injured playing for us, we’ll look after you until such time as you’re ready to go again and that’s what the club is doing with Gary.”
