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Paul Hartley says he was delighted to finally get back to playing football after we continued the build up to the new season with a 4-2 behind closed doors friendly victory over Brechin City at Glebe Park.

Two goals from new signing Leighton McIntosh and singles from fellow new arrival Seb Ross and defender Daniel Higgins saw us recover from  trailing 2-0 to our League Two hosts at the interval.

It was our first match of any description since beating Stirling Albion 7-1 away in League Two on March 10.

The manager, who grabbed the opportunity to give all 20 players who were stripped at least a half each, said: “It was really good to see the lads back out there again. It’s been a while for them and you could see how much they enjoyed getting some minutes under their belts.”

“It’s been a tough six months for everybody, so to finally get a game meant a lot to all of us.”

Brechin went ahead after just four minutes when a lay-off from former Cove striker Jimmy Scott was slotted home from close range by Rory CURRIE.

Despite playing some impressive passing football and creating numerous chances, we found ourselves 2-0 down in the 28th minute when SCOTT scored with a lob from the edge of the area.

We stormed back in the second half though.

McIntosh laid the ball off for ex-Aberdeen midfielder ROSS to mark his Cove debut by coolly slotting home from 12 yards in the 53rd minute.

Former Wrexham and Peterhead striker McINTOSH lashed home the equaliser in the 65th minute after latching on to a perfectly weighted pass from skipper Mitch Megginson.

Full-back Tom Leighton then made an impressive dart forward into the Brechin box before seeing his pass fired home by McINTOSH in the 74th minute.

Centre-back HIGGINS competed the scoring in the 84th minute when he collected a pass from McIntosh and battered an unstoppable 10 yard shot into the net.

The gaffer said: “I was very pleased with the performance, we looked sharp. We have a strong squad and I was really happy with the contributions made by some of the new lads, especially how they fitted into our style of play.”

“Leighton (McIntosh) was strong and powerful and it’s clear he will create chances as well as score goals for us. But everyone who played can be pleased with what they gave us. They have been working hard in training over the last three weeks and you could see that in the way we played in both halves.”

“But the players also know there is still a lot of hard work ahead if we want to be ready for the challenges ahead in the new season.”

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