Leaders Ayr United host Stranraer in a League 1 fixture that produced a total of 20 goals last season but Somerset skipper Scott McLaughlin is playing down his side’s fine start.
The former Livingston, Morton, Airdrie and Peterhead midfielder said: "Ten points from the first four games has been a decent start and we want to keep on doing as well as we have been.
“We lost the first Petrofac Training Cup game against Clyde but after that picked up a Scottish League Cup win and then three league wins and a draw. We lost to Kilmarnock in the second round of the League Cup but, in terms of games against sides in our league, we have done well.
"We will keep our feet on the ground as it is a good start but only a start. You can win three games in a row during the season and no-one says too much but because you win the first three it seems more important. It is great and we have something to build on but we are not going daft about it.”
The 30-year-old reckons the work player/manager Mark Roberts did during the summer is paying dividends, as he explained: "The manager put together a really good squad and it took him a bit of time to do that. People were wondering what we were going to do for players in pre-season but the boss stood firm until he got in the people he wanted.
"Peter Murphy is different class and he has really impressed me. I knew about him and his long career at Carlisle but I did not realise how good he is until I played alongside him.
"Jon Paul McGovern is another terrific player. I knew him 11 or 12 years ago when we were both at Livingston and he was a great player then as well. The two of us were actually League Cup winners there and, whilst I have carried on playing in Scotland, he has travelled about a fair bit but I am glad to be playing with him again."
Another former club-mate has impressed McLaughlin: "I have known Ryan Donnelly since he was a kid of 15 when I was at Airdrie and he was highly rated back then. He appeared to lose confidence somewhere along the line but he is right up for it this season.
"I am sure he will fulfil the potential he first showed as a kid. He is a good goalscorer and when we play with one up front he works his socks off for us.
"We have also changed the way we are playing this season. Last year we relied on getting the ball in front of Michael Moffat and letting him run at teams to hurt them. He is a good player and it played to our strengths but he is now at Dunfermline and we have a new way of playing to our strengths.
"The players we have now require us to pass the ball a lot more and that is what we are doing. We are starting and finishing games well which is different to last season and there is a bit of bite in this squad."
As for facing the Blues, who reached the Petrofac Training Cup semi-finals last Saturday, McLaughlin said: "Stranraer gave us a bit of a doing at our place last season in a 6-3 game on what was a crazy night. We did get some revenge with a 5-0 win later on. They came from nowhere last season and did really well and we know that this will be a tough game.
"They had a great result against Falkirk last Saturday and I was happy that my former team-mate at Ayr, big Anthony Marenghi, got the winner but hopefully he won’t enjoy Saturday!”
Craig Stewart
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