Fraserburgh boss Mark Cowie has watched his side plunder goals for fun over the last two seasons.
But he insists their work on keeping them out of their own net can make them serious contenders at the top end of the Highland League.
The Broch scored 225 league goals in the last two campaigns, second only to Cove Rangers over the same time period. In Sean Butcher, Paul Campbell and Scott Barbour, he also has three of the most prolific strikers in the division.
But clean sheets against Brora Rangers and Wick Academy on the road, in two of their longest trips of the season, have been equally impressive to Cowie, as Fraserburgh prepare for the visit of Formartine United this afternoon.
He said: “For the last two years we’ve been one of the top scorers in the league – we can hurt teams going forward. But we always want to improve our defensive record and we’re doing that. With clean sheets against Wick and Brora, it shows we’re getting better. Once we get that consistency, we can have a serious go.
“It’s hard to get consistency when Cove Rangers were steamrolling everyone, then before that you had Buckie Thistle and Brora Rangers who had strong seasons. Brora are starting to get up a head of steam of now but the rest of us are winning games and dropping points.
“At this moment in time my job is easy and hard. It’s easy in one aspect because of the firepower we have, but they can’t all play. We had a reserve game against Huntly on Monday night and won 8-0; a few first-team guys played in that and were excellent. I would rather be this side of thing, rather than trying to get an 11 together or patching up a team to play Formartine.”
Victory at Harmsworth Park last weekend, while the league’s top two Brora Rangers and Inverurie Locos were in cup action, puts the Broch to within a point of them in third place.
They welcome a Formartine side who are 13 points further back in eighth, albeit with three games in hand.
Cowie added: “Regardless of form or results, Formartine are one of the top sides in the league with the players they have at their disposal.
“They’ve invested heavily in the past year to get a squad capable and it’s a matter of time before they click again. Top teams have blips but I’m sure they’ll hit form again, which will be dangerous as they’re more than capable of going on an unbeaten run.
“It’s just three points to us. We know the effort we have to put into the game to get three points and we’re not getting carried away.”