Peterhead goalie Greg Fleming believes keeping a clean sheet could pave the way for a vital victory over Edinburgh City.
The Blue Toon are gearing up for a top-of-the-table clash at Balmoor on Saturday against their rivals from the capital.
Victory for the Buchan side would move them just a point behind Edinburgh at the top of League Two with two games in hand.
Keeper Fleming and the defence in front of him have a big role to play. The 32-year-old reckons shutting out City will be crucial.
And with Rory McAllister, Derek Lyle, Shane Sutherland and Ryan Dow among Peterhead’s attacking arsenal, Fleming always believes they have a good chance of scoring.
He said: “A clean sheet would be massive because if you get a clean sheet you don’t lose the game.
“If we win we go a point behind Edinburgh with two games in hand, if we draw the gap is still four points with the games in hand, which means we are still in control of the situation.
“If we lose we are then hoping other teams help us and slip up.
“So a clean sheet would be massive in helping get a result. It is a big thing to get a clean sheet, but if we concede and still win I’ll be just as happy.
“There have only been a few games we haven’t scored in this season.
“The Annan game (3-0 loss last Saturday week) was one of them, but hopefully against Edinburgh the players up top can get us a few goals.”
The Blue Toon watched Edinburgh move four points clear on Saturday after City beat Albion Rovers 3-1 and Peterhead’s game at Cowdenbeath was postponed.
After suffering a surprise 3-0 defeat against Annan at Galabank, Fleming says the Balmoor men are itching to get back to winning ways against their title rivals.
He added: “The game at Cowdenbeath on Saturday was off and it was the right decision to call it off because of the frost.
“But after we lost 3-0 at Annan we want to have another game as quick as we can.
“Everyone is desperate to get back to playing well and try to pick things up again.
“The Annan game is gone now so we can’t really think about it or dwell on it too much.
“We deserved to lose and that was what happened so it’s a case of putting it out of your mind and getting on with the next game.
“We’ve got a big game against Edinburgh and hopefully we can do something about the loss.”
From two previous meetings with Edinburgh, Peterhead have only taken one point.
They drew 1-1 at Ainslie Park in December but lost 1-0 at home in September. Fleming felt they deserved more from those clashes.
He said: “It will be a tough game and we know that because we have played them twice this season.
“In the 1-1 draw I felt we were the better team, we scored and had some chances.
“But we didn’t get the second goal and then they got the equaliser out of nothing really.
“The first game was a bit frustrating because we didn’t play particularly well on the day.
“In the second game I felt we were the better team on the night.”