Jordon Brown says he feels as good as ever and is disappointed he can’t currently show it in performances for Peterhead.
The midfielder, who returned for a second spell with the Blue Toon in January after leaving Cove Rangers, has been continuing to work hard on his fitness since the suspension of football below the Championship on January 11.
Brown was hoping to make a positive start to his second stint at Balmoor, but after just one game and two training sessions with the Buchan outfit things were put on hold.
The 28-year-old said: “Frustration is the main thing for me because I played against Cove and got 75 minutes under my belt, which was more than I expected.
“I’d trained once before that and once after that and I was feeling really good.
“I still feel good and I’m still doing as much fitness work as I can, but you can’t match football fitness without playing football.
“I’ve been speaking to Stuart Hogg (fitness coach) regularly to try to get myself in the best position possible for when we go back.
“He sends me messages or emails regularly, which is a big help, and I’ve been used to similar with Tam Ritchie (fitness coach) at Cove.
“I feel as good as I’ve ever felt. It’s just a shame I can’t turn that into football performances at the moment.
“But I’m excited to get back, but it’s all a bit of an unknown at the moment, you just have to keep positive.”
Brown can understand why lower league football was paused as Covid-19 infections rose across the country, but hopes they will be able to return soon.
The former Aberdeen player added: “I think it’s understandable that things have been paused.
“It did come out of the blue, because there had been the previous announcement from the government and football wasn’t mentioned, so it allowed us to carry on for a week.
“But then it was stopped and I think everyone felt disappointed. Personally, I’d just moved back to Peterhead and I’d had a couple of training sessions and one game.
“So I was really excited to get going again, but it hasn’t happened.
“We were supposed to be playing Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup the day after the announcement (January 12) and I was really looking forward to getting back to Balmoor, but it wasn’t to be.
“However, it is understandable and we’ll just need to see how long the break is and take it from there.”
When the lower leagues do restart, there may be some fixture congestion with league campaigns and the Scottish Cup to complete.
Brown hopes it will be possible to play both. In the Scottish Cup, Peterhead are due to face Stenhousemuir in the second round with a home tie against Kilmarnock in round three up for grabs.
He said: “Midweek games were always a complaint before at part-time level, but I think anybody would bite your hand off right now to be getting back at all hours of the morning from games.
“The Scottish Cup game is also something we see as an opportunity, because the potential is there to play a Premiership team.
“It’s a great opportunity, but I know that Stenny are a strong side and have been a bit of a bogey team for Peterhead over the years.”