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Central defender Ryan Strachan insists the best has yet to come from Cove Rangers in the wake of us recording back-to-back cinch League 1 triumphs with a 3-1 victory away to Dumbarton at the weekend.

Ryan said: “It’s been a good spell when you consider how our build-up to the season has gone.

“From a team point of view, I reckon we are still a couple of weeks behind in terms of fitness and being at the levels we would prefer to be playing at.

“On a personal level, I feel I’m another few weeks behind because I also had an injury to deal with during the build-up.

“Thankfully, defending is one of the positions where, if you are smart, you don’t need to run so much.

“It’s more about reading the game correctly so that you can do the job asked of you.

“Staying organised as a team helps on that front too and we have managed to do that for the majority of the time in the last two matches.

“We have slowly but surely begun to look a bit more like what you would expect from a Cove Rangers side.

“We still aren’t up at the speed and intensity shown last season, but I’m confident that, if we keep on working hard, we will eventually get there.

“Let’s not forget we also saw a few new lads come in over the summer.

“It was always going to take time for them to bond and adjust to the way the manager prefers us to play.

“That takes games and I’m confident the more we play the better we are going to get.”

Ryan was pleased with the way we claimed all three points at the C&G Systems Stadium, recovering from the loss of a goal early in the second half to seal the win thanks to a late Rory McAllister penalty.

“It’s a really tough league, especially on the road,” he said.

“That’s why we ended up in what was a classic tale of two halves.

“We enjoyed sheer domination in the first half, but then ended up having to grind out a result in the second.

“We were under the cosh for spells, but the boys showed a bit of heart and resilience, which is exactly what you need to do away from home in a league as competitive as this one is.

“It’s something that we never did amazingly well last season, so it’s a positive sign that we were able to do it at Dumbarton.

“The win was even more pleasing because it came on the back of us having to spend four and a half hours on the bus to get to the game (traffic problems meant long delays near Dunblane when the squad travelled south).

“We were late so had to rush our preparations a wee bit, so it’s good that we were still able to pick up all three points.”

It was Ryan’s through pass that set-up the opener, for captain Mitch Megginson, with Robbie Leitch making it 2-0 just a minute later.

Ryan said: “I’m happy to take the credit for the assist in the first one, but Rory (McAllister) did equally as well with the way he blocked a defender and helped the ball get through to Mitch.

“It was another reminder of just how good those two work together.

“But we are taking nothing for granted, we know we are in for another tough game when we play Clyde at the weekend.”

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