Peterhead co-manager Jordon Browns knows his side will experience highs and lows in their bid to claim the League Two title.
The Blue Toon saw their six-game winning run in the league come to an end on Tuesday night when they were beaten 2-0 by Stenhousemuir at Ochilview.
Despite the defeat, Peterhead still travel to their next fixture – away to Spartans at Ainslie Park on Saturday – at the top of League Two on goal difference.
Co-manager Brown says his side knew to expect ups and downs throughout the season, as he backed the Blue Toon to respond from the midweek defeat against the reigning Lowland League champions.
He said: “You probably learn more from defeats and we knew that it was not going to be plain-sailing for the entire season.
“We were always going to have setbacks and we just need to look at the next game as a chance to reset.
“A couple of months ago we lost two games on the bounce in the league, and we’ve shown how much we have improved since then by going on that winning run.
“This weekend, we’ve got the chance to stop the rot now at only one game and not have back-to-back defeats again.
“There are some boys in the squad who have not been through this kind of winning mentality and getting result after result in their careers before. We can all learn from it.
“As management and staff, we need to learn from the defeat to get back on track, but also look at how far we’ve come to have this mindset now.
“We’re challenging for the league, but there are three or four teams up there. We just need to make sure we have more ups than downs to keep up there and to stay challenging.”
A ‘tricky’ week on the road for Blue Toon
Brown admits the 2-0 defeat to Stenhousemuir was disappointing, but is glad Peterhead have a quick turnaround in their bid to bounce back from defeat.
He said: “We knew it was going to be a very tough week playing two out of the three teams (Stranraer last weekend and Spartans) who have beaten us already this season.
“Tuesday at Stenny was disappointing, but on the flip side a positive is we have only had to wait four days to get back on the pitch and try to bounce back.
“It was disappointing, but we have maybe rode our luck the past few weeks and winning masks that.
“It was all about getting points on the board, but when the performances start to drop then you risk losing points.
“On Tuesday night, Stenny had a good game-plan, scored two good goals and managed to contain us.
“We changed our style throughout the first half and we were probably the team that looked more in control, apart from the counters that happened late on in the game.”
The Blue Toon have played Spartans, who sit fourth in the league table, twice already this season – defeats in the Viaplay Cup group stages and in League Two.
Co-manager Brown said: “If you look at teams who have come up through the same route as Spartans – you look at Cove, Kelty Hearts, Edinburgh City and Bonnyrigg Rose – they’re difficult teams because they’ve got an engrained winning mentality.
“Spartans have some really good players. We’re 12 games into the season and they’re still around the top of the league, which just shows the quality that they have got.
“We’ve got full respect for them. They have beat us twice already this season, but we need to show them how much we have improved since those games.
“Ainslie Park is a tricky venue and this has been a tricky week on the road for us, but we’ve got to show a bit of character to go down there and get a result.”
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