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Morgyn Neill says he’s treating tomorrow’s friendly clash with Gala Fairydean Rovers in the same manner as he will any of the Championship matches he hopes to play in during the coming season.

Central defender Morgyn played in all but one of our League One games last term and his outstanding form was enough to earn him the Cove Rangers Player of the Year award.

But Morgyn accepts that counts for nothing now as he continues his efforts to catch the eye of new manager Jim McIntyre against Lowland League side Rovers at Balmoral Stadium, kick-off 1pm.

“There are no friendlies when you have a new manager to impress,” said Morgyn.

“Jim’s arrival means it’s a clean slate for everyone.

“What any of us did last season counts for nothing now.

“It’s about trying to impress the new manager and hoping that it’s enough to get you a place in his team.

“We are all desperate to be involved because Cove Rangers will soon be playing at the highest level in their history.

“The only way to do that is to approach every game in the same manner, no matter who it is against or if it’s friendly or competitive.

“To be honest, it’s what things have been like since I came to Cove anyway.

“We are at a club that expects to win every game and the talk in the dressing room between the players tomorrow will be exactly as it was ahead of every league and cup game last season.

“We always challenge ourselves to set high standards and take pride in the way that we perform and that won’t change.

“I was actually annoyed I missed that one league game last season, I would have loved to have been an ever present.

“My aim this time around is to see if I can be selected to play in every minute of every game.

“If I could do that I would be absolutely delighted, but I know it won’t happen if I don’t do enough to impress the manager over the next few weeks.”

Morgyn also believes our hopes of doing well in the Championship will be enhanced by the fact the squad have been able to return to what he described as “a proper pre-season again.”

“Last year was far from ideal,” continued Morgyn.

“We started a wee bit later and things were all over the place at times because of Covid.

“We were just one training session in when one of the lads who travelled up north in the club minibus caught Covid, so all of us on the bus had to isolate.

“Two more of the lads were diagnosed at the next training session too, which meant Balmoral Stadium had to be closed until we were given the all-clear, which was a bit of a nightmare.

“This time around, it’s been more what were used to before the pandemic, which is great.

“Some of the lads were back a bit earlier, although I was given a wee bit more time off because I got married in the summer and was away on honeymoon.

“I was back in time for one session before we played Dunfermline last weekend.

“It was tough playing 90 minutes so soon after coming back, but ask any player and they would tell you they would rather take part in a game than train any day.

“But it’s good we will have more opportunity to prepare for the new season, even though we were still good enough to win League One last time.

“This will be the first time Cove Rangers and a lot of the lads have played at Championship level.

“Everyone is relishing that challenge even though we know a lot of eyes will be on us on the back of what we achieved last season.

“It’s an exciting proposition too because there are a lot of benefits from being in a higher league.

“I’m sure a good few of the Cove Rangers games will be shown on the telly, there is the challenge of taking on full-time opponents almost every week – and the added attraction of the battle between Arbroath and ourselves to see who can finish the best of the part-time sides.

“The latter won’t be easy because everyone saw how well Arbroath did last season.

“They made the play-offs and were so close to gaining promotion into the Premiership so it’s only natural to be thinking ‘if Arbroath can do that then why not us?’

“It’s up to us to go out and show we are good enough, but we accept it’s going to be very tough because we are going to be up against some very good teams and players.”

Tomorrow’a match at Balmoral Stadium is a 1pm kick-off.

Supporters can still purchase tickets online by clicking HERE. Alternatively, the Ticket Office at the stadium will be open from 11am tomorrow morning.

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Match Report | Cove Rangers 8-1 Gala Fairydean Rovers »