Peterhead manager Jim McInally hopes his squad can come through the next couple of weeks unscathed to ease his selection problems.
McInally has been short on bodies of late and will be missing a number of key players for the visit of Clyde today.
Peterhead will be without Ryan Conroy, Alan Cook, Gary Fraser, Lenny Wilson and Grant Savoury today through injury, while Jason Brown is suspended.
However David Wilson, Simon Ferry, Josh Mulligan and new signing Conor Cullen should be back involved.
There will need to be decisions made on their loan quartet – Mulligan, Danny Strachan, Lyall Strachan and Flynn Duffy – soon, which may well reduce McInally’s options further.
But he is optimistic the players he has available are capable of getting a result at Balmoor this afternoon.
“If we play well, I fancy us against anybody,” said McInally. “I watch the boys in training and they were really sharp and bright. I’m pleased with what we got.
“I hope we can keep the bulk of them together because I do think we can improve.
“I hope there’s some freshness there. I remember last year when teams were playing three times in a week and Clyde came up and beat us in their third game, so it doesn’t always work out like that.
“We’re getting there as far as getting a bit of strength back goes. The next couple of weeks will be vital to see where we lie with bodies.”
Clyde are a point and a place better off than Peterhead going into the game but were beaten at home 1-0 by Cove Rangers last weekend.
It is the start of an important period for the Blue Toon, who face East Kilbride next weekend for a place in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.
McInally added: “It’s a massive game. East Kilbride have been getting rid of a lot of players – Craig Malcolm, Ryan Blair Chris Erskine, Gregg Wylde – but they’ve still got Chris Millar, Lee Miller, Steven Saunders and Jamie Stevenson. They’re still strong enough.
“If nothing else, financially it would be a help being in the last 16. But East Kilbride will fancy their chances as well.”
