Ross Draper is drawing on his own experience in order to help navigate Elgin City out of League Two relegation danger.
The Black and Whites face a crucial trip to bottom side Albion Rovers on Saturday, with only three points separating the sides.
A run of five straight defeats has put City in an increasingly precarious position, with only six matches remaining.
Defender Draper, who has previously played for Ross County and Caley Thistle, insists calm heads are needed.
The 34-year-old said: “We have still got a game in hand, and we play teams in and around us. They will be big games for the club – but it is completely in our hands.
“With any kind of experience you have in the game, it helps in these kind of situations. I have been in this situation a number of times before with Ross County and Inverness – realistically it has always been for teams fighting and scrapping at the bottom end of the table.
“If I can bring that kind of experience to Elgin that’s brilliant, but I trust the boys enough that they know what it’s like for the club, and what it means for the club.
“We will pull together as a group, get enough points to get ourselves away from it and give ourselves a bit of breathing space.
“To win on Saturday would absolutely do that.”
Results need to come quickly
While Englishman Draper retains belief Gavin Price’s side can get their way out of trouble, he acknowledges they cannot afford to delay their return to form any longer.
Draper added: “We are going through a sticky spell, and there’s no hiding that Saturday is a big game for the club. After that the final five games are just as big.
“There’s no panic stations – we’ve got experienced boys in the dressing room.
“The boys need to pull together. I’m confident we can do that, and get the points on the board to steer ourselves away from it.
“We have done well in spells against better teams – and then struggled to pick up points in games where we maybe feel we should do. That has been our problem really.
“It has been a frustrating season as a whole, there is no getting away from that fact.
“But there is still time to put a positive spin on it and get ourselves away from it.
“The games are coming thick and fast. After the defeat to Stirling Albion on Tuesday, there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves, we just need to get back on the horse again on Saturday. It’s as simple as that.
“It has to start on Saturday – we are running out of games. I have been there before and people say: ‘you’ve always got next week’, but results need to start now.
“Saturday is a perfect time to play the big game and make sure we get a result.”
City out to atone for last trip to Coatbridge
Elgin suffered a 3-0 loss to Rovers when the sides last met at Cliftonhill in February.
Draper is eager to avoid a repeat display when City face the Coatbridge outfit, who recently appointed Sandy Clark as their new manager.
He added: “We were really poor down there when we got turned over 3-0.
“It was tight for 45 minutes and then we capitulated a little bit.
“It was probably one of our poorer performances of the season.
“We know what they are capable of, and we know another performance like that will nowhere near be good enough.
“We need to make sure first and foremost we are at it, and we don’t have a repeat performance.
“We know what we are capable of on our day, and we know what group of boys we’ve got.
“It’s down to us – there’s no excuses.
“It’s down to the players to perform, starting on Saturday.”
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