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MIDFIELDER Connor Scully admits it’s a thrill to finally get his hands on the Ladbrokes League Two trophy.

The official presentation of the 2019-2020 Trophy and Winners’ medals to the squad and coaching staff took place at Balmoral Stadium immediately after our narrow 2-1 Betfred League Cup defeat by Hibs.

It was also the first event to to be screened live on the newly launched Cove Rangers FC TV Channel.

The presentation ceremony had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The League Two trophy – our first silverware since stepping up to senior level – is now proudly on display in the boardroom at Balmoral Stadium.

That was after being picked up on the pitch by captain Mitch Megginson and manager Paul Hartley as the squad members who featured last season looked on.

“It’s brilliant to finally have the trophy and our medals,” said Connor, who had started all 28 of the League Two games we had played before the campaign was brought to a premature close.

“I’ve won Highland League titles with Cove but this tops the lot.”

Manager Paul Hartley said: “I’m really pleased to see the players get the reward they deserve. It’s a shame the current situation means we are unable to properly celebrate what we have achieved with the Cove fans, hopefully there will be a time when that can happen.”

“But it’s great that they now have their medals and the club has the trophy to show, because I know it means a lot to so many people at Cove Rangers.”

Connor confessed winning the League Two title was furthest from his mind when we were preparing to host Edinburgh City in our opening league fixture in August of last year.

Connor said: “It was mine and the club’s first season playing at SPFL level and I really went into the season hoping that we would avoid going right back down and maybe finish in the top half of the table. To actually end up as champions was amazing, especially when you look back on how we did it – beating Edinburgh 5-0 in that opening game was the catalyst for it all.”

“We were brilliant that day and we carried the confidence from that win into every match that followed.”

Our title challenge was built on the back of an astonishing run of 14 straight league wins at Balmoral Stadium.

We were the only senior side in Europe not to drop a point at home (English Premier League champions Liverpool were on course to doing that also until they drew 1-1 with Burnley at Anfield towards the end of their campaign).

When we beat Stirling Albion 7-1 away on March 11 we were sitting 13 points clear of second placed Edinburgh City, with eight games to play.

But our hopes of going on to win the title in style were dashed when it was announced on March 13 that all football in the United Kingdom had been stopped due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The SPFL also proposed that final season placings in League One and League Two be determined by the number of points per game earned by each club in the matches they had played.

The proposal was backed by the majority of the clubs, which meant we were confirmed as champions of League Two on April 8.

Connor said: “We would obviously have preferred to play the season out but accept that was impossible. Nobody could say we didn’t deserve the title though.”

“We showed an amazing level of consistency to get to where we were when the league was shut-down. Our confidence was also sky high after that amazing win away to Stirling Albion, our first half display that night was the best I’ve ever been a part of since joining Cove eight years ago.”

“We were all up for the challenge of seeing things through in the eight games we had left, sadly we never got that chance.”

We were also promoted into League One and Connor admits he’s looking forward to the fresh challenge that presents.

“First and foremost we are all just happy that we now have a league campaign to prepare for and look forward to,” said Connor, who is now our longest serving player after joining us from Dee Boys Club in 2012.

“I doubt if anyone will take football for granted again after all that has happened over the last months. It’s brilliant being back with the rest of the lads again.”

“There’s only so much 5k and 10k runs you can do to stay fit, nothing beats training in a group and with a ball and playing actual games. It’s been going well and we can only hope it will be enough to help us when we finally return to league action.”

“Our expectations will be exactly as they were the last time, to do our best and hopefully stay in the division. We aren’t kidding ourselves on, we know it will be even tougher than it was last season, especially with full-time sides Patrick Thistle and Falkirk looking to get back up into the Championship.”

“But we are all determined to show we are good enough to compete after making another step up.”

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