Peterhead manager Jim McInally insists his side must batten down the hatches as a depleted Blue Toon get their League One campaign under way against Airdrie on Saturday.
With Jason Brown, Andy McCarthy, Hamish Ritchie and Russell McLean all absent due to injury and Andy McDonald serving a two-game suspension, McInally is down to the bare bones for the first game of the campaign.
The Blue Toon boss said: “It is going to be incredibly tough this year. It’s going to be a long season, but we’ll get a break at some point.
“I try not to moan about the injuries we have, but losing two players in Scott Brown and Simon Ferry in the summer, and then losing the other two who would take their place in Hamish and Andy to injury, has been a big setback.
“Andy should hopefully be back in two or three weeks, but for now we have to batten down the hatches and get through this difficult period.”
League One will be even tougher this season
The timing could not be worse for Peterhead as they welcome last season’s runners-up Airdrie to Balmoor Stadium for their league opener.
The setbacks in pre-season meant Peterhead failed to pick up a point in their Premier Sports Cup campaign, but McInally is remaining positive.
He said: “I’m looking forward to it.
“It would be easy to be all doom and gloom about the fact we lost all four games in the League Cup, but it has been a huge learning curve for the younger players in the squad.
“Right now I’m looking at the league table and we’re on the same points as everybody else. The cup games are in the past now and it’s what we do now that matters.
“Last season was a competitive one, but this year is going to be even harder.
“You have got Falkirk, Dunfermline, Queen of the South and Airdrie all targeting promotion and they can’t all be successful.
“The pressure will come on one or two of them at some point in the season.
“Airdrie had a very good season and they were on a terrific unbeaten run towards the end of the season.
“We also finished the season unbeaten too.
“They’ve had a few changes since then, but we’ve got a completely different team from last season so it will be interesting to see how we match up.”
Returning Strachan will not be rushed
Paul Dixon and Ryan Dow return from suspension for the league opener, while Ryan Strachan is also expected to feature at some point.
The defender made his first appearance of the season off the bench at Stirling Albion last weekend and, while McInally is delighted to have Strachan back, he insists he will not rush the player into full duty.
He said: “It was great to see Ryan get a runout last weekend, but I’m not going to push him to play a full 90 minutes at this stage.
“Even in the time he was on the pitch, he showed how important a player he will be for us and what he can bring to the team.
“He will make a real difference when he’s able to play full games every week.
“But I’ve had to take a longer-term approach with Ryan and other players during pre-season.
“We’re in a tough situation at the minute, but there is no point in panicking.
“We’ve just got to take our medicine to an extent, but know that the situation will improve once we get some guys back and some new faces in.”
