Peterhead defender David Wilson hopes he is over the niggling injury worries which have hampered his season so far.
Wilson, who joined last season after leaving Elgin City, missed the end of last season after chipping a bone in his foot.
Upon his return his progress has been checked, with a calf problem affecting his availability for the Blue Toon.
He is keen to make an impact under new manager David Robertson and wants to stay injury-free from here on in.
“Small niggling injuries have not helped me,” said Wilson. “I had a long-term one at the end of last season, then two or three small ones.
“To be in and out of the team all the time has obviously been frustrating. But the old gaffer was very honest with you when you weren’t playing, so I never had any issues at all.
“Hopefully now it’s about me trying to maintain my fitness and I’m over all the niggling injuries, which have hampered my season so far.”
Even when fit Wilson knows he cannot take his position on the pitch for granted, with Robertson having an abundance of defensive players to choose from.
“I think in the Queen’s Park game in the cup we had six defenders on the park,” he added. “That was without Ryan Strachan and Max Gillies too.
“We have eight or nine really high-quality defenders so it’s really competitive at the back.
“It’s just a shame we don’t really have any strikers. Conor (O’Keefe) is injured and Russell (McLean) is just coming back,
“Defensively we’ve got enough quality, it’s just about being braver on the ball and having a bit more quality in the final third.”
Peterhead’s game against Clyde was postponed on Saturday due to a frozen pitch at Balmoor, but the players still managed to get in a short indoor training session.
Wilson has been impressed with what he’s seen so far from Robertson and his coaches, Ian Esslemont and Jimmy Lindsay.
“His training sessions have been excellent,” he said. “He’s come in with Ian and Jimmy and put on a lot of possession-based training sessions, bringing different ideas to training.
“Probably what’s impressed me most is the three of them all bring something different. They work really well together.
“Whenever there’s a change of manager, some people might be happy because they weren’t playing under the previous manager, or some might be unhappy because they were getting a game.
“Everyone is now playing for a place, from Tom (Ritchie) in goal to whoever plays up top at the moment. It’s refreshing and the intensity of training has definitely gone up a notch.”
Even though the Blue Toon are still struggling at the foot of League One, Wilson insists camaraderie between the players remains strong.
“All of the boys are still together,” he added. “Going into training, we’re not dwelling on what happened on Saturday.
“Games have been closer, even if the scoring might not reflect that. If we take the lead in one of these games, against teams in the bottom half, I really think we can start getting results.”
