Owen Paterson believes Strathspey Thistle need a stronger mentality if they are to improve this season.
The Grantown Jags – who finished bottom last term – are without a point after five Breedon Highland League games.
But they did defeat Lossiemouth in the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup and face Fraserburgh this weekend at Seafield Park in the quarter-finals of the competition.
Last weekend Strathspey lost 4-1 to Nairn County with Robert MacCormack’s side performing well in the first half but, after losing a goal early in the second period, things got away from them.
Midfielder Paterson remains upbeat about the season ahead, but believes Thistle need to improve in moments of adversity.
The 24-year-old said: “We’ve been bad for heads going down when things go against us.
“I think part of it is because we’re quite a young team, but we need to shake off that mentality and be a bit stronger.
“It takes time, but we showed on Saturday what we were capable of in spells.
Full-time: Nairn County 4-1 Strathspey Thistle (Scorer: McKenzie) #STRATHYJAGS
— Strathspey Thistle FC (Official) (@JagsStfc) September 2, 2023
“We created good chances and should have been a couple of goals up in the first half, but didn’t take them.
“We beat Lossie and we know we can compete with teams and hopefully if we keep working hard we can make improvements.
“Fingers crossed things pick up for us soon. We’ve switched off at the start of the second half in our last two games.
“We can’t do that, we need to give ourselves more of a chance in games.”