Jason Brown may only be 25 but that puts him among the more experienced players in this youthful Peterhead squad.
But while acknowledging it is not a common situation for a player his age, Brown admits he needs to take on more responsibility for his role in the team.
The last two Peterhead performances have left a lot to be desired. They were beaten 3-0 by local rivals Cove Rangers last weekend, a performance manager Jim McInally labelled ‘soft’.
Prior to that, they went down 3-1 at League One leaders Airdrieonians. Granted, they may not be expected to get results against these title-challengers, but the ridiculously-competitive nature of this division means each weekend brings a new opponent with big aspirations.
Brown and Peterhead face Queen’s Park at Balmoor on Saturday, the team who have led the way for most of the campaign.
For this young side and Brown in particular, the time has come to step up.
“It’s weird saying it as I still feel relatively young, but I’ve played a lot of games,” said Brown. “I need to take a bit more responsibility myself, whether that’s being more vocal on the pitch or being more demanding of the people around me, then that’s what it’s going to take.
“I do now see myself as more experienced than some of the boys around me, so I need to start helping them. At my age, it’s still relatively young for a centre-half, but it’s a thing I’m trying to improve on.
“I want to be a good leader and, while games like Saturday might be a tough lesson, hopefully it can stand me in good stead going forward.
“If we can take anything out of Saturday, us as the senior players have to use that lesson to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Compounding a bad day at the office for Brown against Cove was the fact he had to come off after getting a contact lens lodged behind his eye, after an accidental collision with former team-mate Rory McAllister.
“I couldn’t see anything out of my right eye – it was a weird feeling,” he added. “The doctor had a look at it at half-time and couldn’t see anything.
“After the game he came through and managed to get it out. It was horrible and kind of summed up the day.”
Making Balmoor a formidable place to come should also be a priority.
Peterhead have won three of their seven home league games this season, drawing two and losing two. They have held Falkirk and Montrose to goal-less draws in their recent visits to the north-east.
“At home we’ve been relatively strong and we see that as a big advantage,” said Brown. “We’ll need to make that count again on Saturday – make sure teams don’t like coming to Balmoor.
“Queen’s Park are a full-time team so we know they’re going to be sharp. They’ve got a great squad with players who’ve played at a good level.
“We all need to keep spirits high and stick together. There’s no feeling sorry for ourselves and with a team like that coming up to Balmoor we need to be on it.
“If we’re slightly off it, we won’t get anything out of the game.”
