JOHN POTTER admits that he was "thrown in a wee bit at the deep end" when he became head coach of his boyhood favourites.

But the new Kelty Hearts gaffer is hopeful that his previous experience of being the main man in the dugout – and his subsequent coaching journey – has given him the grounding for a successful tenure at New Central Park.

Potter, 42, was unveiled as Kevin Thomson's successor last month, leaving a coaching job at Queen's Park – who he helped win promotion to the Championship through the play-offs last season – to become a manager for the second time.

His first stint as a number one came during the 2014/15 season at Dunfermline, when he took over from Jim Jefferies following his resignation.

In what proved to be a difficult spell for the East End Park side – they had exited administration just a year earlier – the Pars won five of 20 games he was in charge of, finishing seventh in League One.

At the end of that campaign, he reverted to a first-team coach role under incoming boss, Allan Johnston, and was a key, and popular, member of the staff that won the title and promotion back to the Championship.

In 2018, Potter was lured south to Sunderland by his former team-mate, Clyde and St Mirren team-mate Jack Ross – who, this week, was appointed as successor at Dundee United to ex-Kelty player and manager, Tam Courts, who left to join Budapest Honved – and also worked with him at Hibernian.

After the pair left Easter Road in December, Potter then joined the Spiders and was at the forefront of their promotion from League One, which saw them defeat Dunfermline along the way and condemn them to the drop.

"A lot has happened for me since then," Potter said of his time in charge at East End.

"I was thrown in a wee bit at the deep end at that point in a difficult situation, and it didn't go how we all wanted for those three or four months.

"But, from then, I stayed and had a little of bit of success with Dunfermline as part of a coaching set-up, was down at Sunderland, been up at Hibs with relative success, and then I went in at Queen's Park.

"I've seen a lot of different aspects of the game, sides of the game regarding players, so there's loads that I've seen and learned since then.

"Hopefully, I can take some of the good things, and some of those bad things as well, and try and be successful here."

Kelty's sporting director, Andrew Barrowman, returned to Dunfermline for a second spell as a player during Potter's time in charge, and said: "I think the Dunfermline experience ... I'm pretty sure he'll be a better manager for that.

"I was there; I know there was mitigating circumstances in terms of maybe why that wasn't as successful as you would've hoped it to be.

"It certainly wasn't for the want of trying; there was just other things going on at the club at that time.

"It was great to get that experience, as horrible as it maybe was at the time. It was good to experience that early on so that he feels that and knows what that feels like.

"He's gone away and worked at a really good level, with a really great coach, and I'm sure he'll have picked things up and will share ideas with Jack Ross, who is a top manager.

"I think he's well-suited to the challenge ahead, and I think he's ready for it. We believe that and that's why we've appointed him as manager."