Peterhead manager Jim McInally insists they will have to play on the front foot against Montrose – as they do not have the personnel to be defensive.
Centre-back David Wilson is missing, as are more defensive midfielders Andy McCarthy and Simon Ferry, which will lead McInally to more proactive again in his team selection.
The trio missed out for Peterhead in the win over Dumbarton at the weekend, with attacking midfielders Hamish Ritchie, Lyall Cameron and Grant Savoury all starting.
The Blue Toon drew 0-0 when they faced Montrose at Balmoor but lost on their previous trip to Links Park. Tonight’s game had been moved forward from Boxing Day.
McInally is full of praise for Montrose and how Stewart Petrie sets his team but will set his own side out to take the game to the hosts.
The Peterhead boss said: “They’ve been together quite a while and know each other inside out. He (Petrie) always adds one or two each year that complements them a bit more. They go from strength from strength.
“After winning on Saturday, we can go there and have a bit of a free-hit. With the personnel we’ve got, we can only play one way – to win. There’s no defensive side to us, even the midfield players are attackers.
“We know it’ll be tough as they’re very good with set-pieces. We need to be strong and defend better than we did on Saturday, as we lost a soft goal from a corner.”
Peterhead moved up to fifth at the weekend and are now just four points off the play-offs, after improving upon what was a sticky start to the season.
McInally added: “We’ve started the second half of the season it would be nice if we could replicate the first half, or even better.
“It’s an extraordinary league. If somebody told you you were going to be above Falkirk and Alloa, you’d think you’d be first or second.
“There’s a long way to go and a lot of throat-cutting still to be done in this league.”
Peterhead’s season has now reached its half-way stage and with two defeats in their last 11 games, a corner would appear to have been turned by the Buchan outfit.
McInally said: “We had the spell in the first quarter where we lost a few games. In the second quarter Cove murdered us but in every other game, we’ve been competitive.
“There’s a bit of resilience there recently. We need to try retain that. They’re a close bunch and with the younger boys, I felt we were going to improve.
“When you get out of the habit of losing, there’s a confidence that comes in.”
