Peterhead manager Jim McInally was content to take a scrappy point from their goal-less draw with East Fife.
In a game blighted by the high winds at Bayview, East Fife arguably had more chances but Peterhead had the best one, with Russell McLean missing a first-half penalty.
Blue Toon stopper Brett Long was required to make a number of key stops to deny Kyle Connell, Darren Watson and Scott Mercer on a return to his old club.
“The boys were in there arguing about it but we came here last time, murdered them and got beat 3-0,” said McInally. “We had a poor start to the game but the rest of the first half we dominated.
“We missed a penalty but were never under any threat. We decided not to change it at half-time as we felt we could still cope with the conditions being against us and I felt, until the last five minutes, we coped reasonably well.
“Our goalkeeper has had two really good saves from one-on-ones and I think that’s to be expected, playing against the conditions we were playing against.
“Defensively we did well and that’s pleasing for me. The draw suits us better than it suits them, as it keeps that distance.
“I’ve been in the game a long time and seen conditions like that at Peterhead. You can come out the wrong side of it so we take the point and move on.”
McLean’s penalty miss ultimately proved decisive for the visitors. He was brought down by Chris Higgins after 21 minutes but goalkeeper Scott Gallacher read his spot-kick and palmed it away.
After managing to come through 12o minutes in last week’s Scottish Cup win over East Kilbride, Simon Ferry was affected by his back problem again as McInally revealed he suffered a spasm before coming off in the second half.
He added: “He’s in agony, to be honest. His back went in to a hell of a spasm.
“When he’s on the park he gets through some amount of work but he’s in a lot of pain.”
McInally was able to hand Peterhead debuts to Owen Cairns and Rico Quitongo in the second half and was pleased with how they fared.
He added: “When the two of them came on they slipped into the game quite easily. Rico was just a wee bit horrified that he nearly cost us a goal when the ball bounced over his head at the end.
“You can see what he offers us when he came on. He’s got good pace going forward and in recovery going back. I’m really pleased.”
The most lively attacking threat for the away side came in the form of Grant Savoury, who had several threatening runs from the centre of midfield.
After a quite afternoon against Kilby a week ago, the former Celtic youngster showed more of his true potential against East Fife.
McInally added: “He’s just coming back from an injury and last week he didn’t play to the standards he can play, but he was still OK.
“But you saw on Saturday he’s a good player and he hurts other teams. I think he got two or three players booked because he just picks it up and runs at them.
“He’s got good pace and I’m really pleased with him.”
