Peterhead skipper Paul Dixon reckons their youthful squad will come out from their difficult start to the season stronger.
The Blue Toon have already made 17 signings this summer, with the expectation of more to come from manager Jim McInally.
A significant proportion of them have been teenagers, including Cody McLeod, Max Gillies, Jack Wilkie, Ewan Murray, Danny Strachan, Prince Asare and Robbie Scullion, while goalkeeper Jack Newman is only 20.
Dixon is among the experienced core of the squad, along with Blue Toon returnees Ryan Strachan and Ryan Dow, and feels the youngsters will take more on from this adversity than if Peterhead were winning every week.
“I spoke to Jack Wilkie and Max Gillies after the Alloa game and said it feels really bad, but they will learn so much from this,” said Dixon. “It will stand them in good stead for the rest of their careers.
“Winning every week, you don’t necessarily focus on bits that you need to be working on. When you lose, those bits tend to be highlighted even more.
“These boys will remember this period over their careers and they’re all level-headed enough to take it on board. You learn more from losing than when everything is rosy in the garden.”
As club captain, Dixon feels it is his responsibility to help steer the club’s younger players through the choppy waters they are currently experiencing, with the hope that brighter days are ahead.
“That’s effectively my job, along with Davie Nicholls and the manager,” he added. “For example I was speaking to Jack (Wilkie) last weekend constantly, to help him through the game with the position he was playing.
“At Dundee, he’s been more of a left-back or centre-half. I don’t think he’s played wing-back as much. It’s a slightly new position but one he’s capable of playing.
“That kind of things comes natural to me. It’s helping them learn the game also helping me learn as a coach, to take into when I’m standing on the touchline rather than between the white lines.”
Peterhead welcomes Montrose to Balmoor tomorrow, with getting points on the board becoming ever more important as they chase their first victory of the campaign.
They were thumped 5-0 by Alloa last weekend and sit bottom of League One, level on points with Kelty Hearts.
“It’s on a fairly big scale but look at Man United,” added Dixon. “They got a result against Liverpool and it looks as though they have turned their season from a negative start to slightly more positive.
“They are now looking upwards so there’s no reason why we can’t get a win and start looking up the table.
“When I signed I was looking at the positives and was excited for the challenge. It’s the oldest cliche in the book but you take each game as it comes, otherwise you’ll find yourself in trouble.
“You have to focus on the next game and that’s Montrose. There’s nothing we can do about the games that have gone. They’re history. We’ll learn from the previous games and try put it right on Saturday.”
