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Having experienced a season of incredible highs and lows, the campaign comes down to ninety potentially nerve-wracking minutes against Morton on Friday night.

Everyone involved with the club knows what is at stake, and that a victory, at the very least, guarantees a play-off place.

The players have put us in that position thanks to two battling performances at Gayfield and Dens Park, and the four points gained from those difficult away matches might yet prove crucial.

Now, manager Paul Hartley is hoping his men can continue that form and pass the final test of the regular season:

“For the last few months, our objective has always been to get to the last game against Morton with our campaign still alive.

“Despite the horrendous injuries we have had to endure, the players have not only done that, but they have also made sure that survival is now in our own hands, even if that might mean going through the play-offs.”

Paul describes the selection problems he has had to face as the worst in his dozen years in management, and knows that has had a significant bearing on our league position:

“The setbacks we have suffered have not helped our cause, and in my dozen years in management, I have never known a casualty list such as the one we have experienced over the past few months. Having long since lost Fraser Fyvie and Brody Paterson for the season, Blair Yule and Miko Virtanen had their campaigns ended, and last weekend we were also without Michael O’Halloran and Leighton McIntosh.

“In the recent games against Hamilton and Arbroath I had to make a total of four enforced first half changes. That has got to be unprecedented!

“It has meant us having to be flexible, to try a few things out, and to play some formations that we haven’t previously used this season, but somehow we have battled through it all, and the last couple of performances have been outstanding defensively.”

Having been battered for months, and having slipped to the bottom of the table, the players have dug deep and shown incredible resilience. As much as anything, they have displayed a real mental toughness, and Paul says they will have to replicate that in the season-closer:

“We are going to have to show the same resolve and concentration levels against Morton, and with the squad still stretched to its limit, I’m going to have to ask the boys to once more pull out all the stops.

“We have given ourselves a chance to stay up, and that’s all I could ask for. It won’t be a gung-ho approach, we have to make sure we’re in the game and give ourselves a platform to build from.”

While the immediate task is to preserve our place in the Championship, and Paul is entirely focused on that for now, he is also considering the bigger picture, and says attention will turn to the future direction of the club as soon as our fate has been decided:

“Over the piece, I know this season hasn’t been good enough throughout, and we are all well aware of that. It is a situation which will be addressed over the summer, but for now, all our attention has to be on what will be a massive ninety minutes against Morton.”

“I have firmly believed all along that the players could get us out of trouble; it is now up to them to prove me right.”

Long-term casualties Fyvie, Paterson, Yule and Virtanen will still be absent, and Michael O’Halloran has also been ruled out. Jackson Longridge is rated touch and go, but it is hoped Leighton McIntosh will be given the all clear to return.

Tickets have been selling fast, so fans are urged to get theirs in advance at the Cove Rangers FC website.

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