He’s played every minute for Peterhead so far this season – but Kyle Bailey believes there are still lots of things he can improve on.
The English defender has been an ever-present for the Blue Toon this term and is set to feature against Forfar Athletic at Balmoor this afternoon.
Bailey has played at right-back and centre-back and, although he’s pleased to have played every game, he says there are still aspects of his game he needs to work on.
The 23-year-old said: “I haven’t been particularly happy with my own form so far this season.
“I’ve been taking it game by game and trying to improve as much as I can from every game I play.
“I want to bring more complete performances, but – if I’m being honest – I feel it’s still a work in progress with me.
“Learning is so important to me, I want to develop my game and gain more consistency when I play.
“I’ve played every game so far this season and it hasn’t been a bad start for me, but I feel there is always room for improvement and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Bailey has thanked Peterhead manager Jim McInally, assistant David Nicholls and his team-mates for their encouragement even when he’s made mistakes this season.
He’s determined to repay them for that support and added: “Personally I feel I need to defend a bit better in certain situations.
“I need to be more clinical and smarter in certain areas of the pitch, that’s because I feel I need to be stronger defensively.
“It’s something I’ve been working on recently, so hopefully I can get it right in the games.
“The manager has been great with me even when I’ve made mistakes.
“Everyone at the club has been great with me and encouraged me, from the manager, the assistant manager and coaches and all the players.
“With the encouragement and advice they’re giving me every week I can improve my game, because I feel like they believe in me and it’s about paying them back out on the pitch.”
Peterhead are looking to make it back-to-back home wins against Forfar this afternoon.
Victory would see the Blue Toon move onto nine points from the first six League One fixtures.
Bailey believes the Buchan outfit will improve as the season goes on.
He said: “I feel as a team we are definitely improving. The first few games were a bit tricky for us because we hadn’t been together long.
“But the more games we’ve played together, the more we’ve come together as a team, which has been very good.
“Winning this game would be a great momentum booster and hopefully we can do it and get the three points.
“It would be two out of two at home and you always want to have a good record.
“If you can build a good home record it shows the teams that when they come to Peterhead they will get a difficult game.”