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Our first season in the cinch Championship reaches the halfway stage this weekend with a trip to face on-form Dundee at Dens Park.

It will be the second meeting of the pair; Cove having won the opener on a memorable night in early October when Connor Scully scored two outstanding goals as we came from behind to record an impressive 3-1 victory.

Dundee have bounced back since, unbeaten in eight and having recorded six wins in a row to move to within a point of leaders Ayr United.

It is a run Connor says the team are well aware of, but it is not something the players find in any way daunting:

“It will be a tough game down there obviously, but we can draw on what was a very strong display against them last time out. It’s going to be the same as it always is in this league, we need to be tight at the back, and try to take our chances when they come along.

“I’ll be hoping to get another couple of overhead kicks in!”

“The second quarter of the season has been frustrating. We’ve played really well at times, but we’ve given away sloppy goals too often. When you look back, we could easily have had another six points, which would obviously have made a massive difference.”

Given the heavy snow which has fallen across the north-east over the past few days, arranging training has been a problem for the management, but boss Jim McIntyre does not expect that to have a negative impact on the team’s performance:

“The weather conditions have limited us a bit, but I know I can trust the boys to look after themselves. They all have their individual programmes to follow, and they have done so.”

“While it might not have been ideal this week, we have put the work in, we have done our tactical analysis, and we all know what’s going to be needed at Dens.

“We are as well prepared for this game as we would be for any other.”

Scully agrees with the manager:

“It has been tough, obviously you can’t go running outside to try to stay fit, but we’ve all been doing our own thing in the gym, and we had a really good session on Thursday at the Sports Village.

“We’re definitely ready for this one.”

Shay Logan will miss the match as he recovers from a troublesome calf problem. Kyle McClelland is close to returning from his long-term ankle injury, suffered in the win over Dundee back in October, and that apart, Jim has a full squad to choose from:

“We are quite well placed right now, and it’s great for me, as the person who picks the team, to have as many options as possible. There have been spells this season when we’ve had a long injury list, and that has had an impact.

“I’m hoping we can keep as many of the boys as fit as we can, because the second half of the season is going to be just as demanding as the first half was.”

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