Peterhead boss Jim McInally wants one of his players to step up and be a match-winner – rather than hoping someone else does it.
The Blue Toon are still searching for their first win of the season and confidence at Balmoor has taken a hit, given their struggles.
McInally and his coaching staff have tried to keep the players positive and galvanise them, ahead of their home game against Kelty Hearts today.
He does not feel the lack of assurity is restricted to Peterhead’s young players, more that the whole squad is feeling the strain of their poor results.
“I don’t think it’s solely the young players who are feeling like that,” said McInally. “The experienced players are suffering from losing this amount of games.
“They’re not used to it. I’m not used to it. It would be unfair to say it’s just the younger players.
“What I’m seeing is the whole group looking about thinking ‘is he going to be the one to do it for us?’ rather than taking it upon themselves to be that one.
“For instance Conor O’Keefe scores a gem of a goal in training the other night and if he takes that onto the pitch, he’d be hard to play against.
“There’s no point leaving it on the training pitch. You need to take it with you.
“I’m feeling it the same as the players. They need to keep at it and be brave. They need to play forward, make runs in behind and put crosses in the box. Otherwise you won’t win football matches.”
They come up against a Kelty side who have found the going difficult in League One, after back-to-back promotions.
“Everyone was surprised by their slow start to the season but I’m sure they won’t have been surprised by the standard of the league,” added McInally.
“They had a managerial change in preseason which probably wasn’t helpful. They’re a team that’s been used to winning for a few years and are probably still adjusting.
“We’re up against another part-time team and they shouldn’t be fitter than us. People thought the Montrose game was OK but I thought we were nowhere near it. If we improve from there then it should be a good game.”
McInally is hopeful of some good news on the injury front with Andy McCarthy, who has been out since pre-season with an ankle issue, having had a further scan this week.
“We’re thinking he’s had a stress fracture which has now healed,” said the Peterhead manager. “He’s probably two weeks off where he should be if it is a stress fracture.
“From the scan there doesn’t appear to be much damage there. He’s been walking and working on it and does a lot of driving with his job. He’s desperate to get back.”
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