Peterhead manager Jim McInally says his side need to be more clinical and hopes they start to be today against Stranraer.
The Blue Toon – who are eighth in League One – have the chance to move nine points clear of bottom side Stranraer with a victory at Balmoor this afternoon.
However, McInally says the Buchan outfit need to make the most of the chances they are creating if they are to take the points against the Blues.
Peterhead have only scored once in their last three games and across 15 league matches, they have only found the net 16 times.
McInally said: “We need to take our chances, that’s the thing, we can’t keep having more efforts on goal than the other team and not score.
“That’s not having a go at the strikers because a lot of the chances haven’t been falling to the strikers it’s often been the midfield players and wide players. Ultimately one way or another we need to start scoring more goals than we have been.
“We need to be more clinical. Defensively things have been going OK, but we haven’t scored enough.”
Victory today for the Blue Toon would put significant distance between them and Stranraer. McInally is keen to open up a nine-point advantage after missing out on the chance to move eight ahead of ninth-placed Forfar as a result of last Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Station Park.
In his bid to prepare for the game Scotland’s longest-serving gaffer has spoken to Peterhead’s former coach David McCracken, who is now in interim charge of Falkirk with Lee Miller. McCracken and Miller guided the Bairns to a 3-0 win against Stranraer last weekend.
McInally added: “It would be a good advantage to have, but because we’re only 15 games in I’m not too hung up on it because there’s a long way to go. But it would be great if we can open up a nine-point gap.
“We’ve played them once already this season and they have a good mixture of youth and experience.
“They signed Andy Stirling recently who is probably a better player than League One. Two weeks they beat Stranraer in the Scottish Cup and there are no mugs in this league.
“I had somebody watching their game against Falkirk on Saturday and I’ll speak to David McCracken as well about them.”
Jason Brown looks set to return to central defensive now that he is clear of suspension. The 23-year-old and Scott Hooper have formed a decent partnership at the heart of Peterhead’s defence and McInally hopes that can continue.
He said: “Jason Brown and Scott Hooper have struck up a good partnership at centre-back and it’s up to them to keep it going.
“Stranraer will come and play with two strikers and I think how we’ve improved this season is because we’ve been prepared to play two v two at the back because of the pace and aggression of Jason and Scott.
“That in turn helps us get another player forward and we just want them to be the way they have been recently. There have been mistakes at the back, but they haven’t come from centre-backs lately.”
Peterhead’s only injury doubt is midfielder Ryan Conroy who rolled an ankle at training earlier this week.