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Cove Rangers renew acquaintances with Edinburgh City at the weekend, as the sides go head-to-head for the first time since our debut season in the SPFL.

Our inaugural game was against the team from the capital, a 5-0 victory at Balmoral Stadium, which was the perfect start to the League Two title-winning campaign.

City gained promotion to League One through the play-offs in 2022, and comfortably established themselves last season, but have had a tough start to 2023-24, losing all eleven of their league and cup games so far played.

We sit in second bottom, with a five point cushion, and the squad was boosted by last week’s much-improved performance in the 2-2 draw with Kelty. Manager Paul Hartley is now looking for his side to kick-on and build from that:

“We were very good last Saturday. There were some good individual performances, but as a team, that was more like how we want to play. I was obviously unhappy with the goals we conceded, but they showed great character to get back into the game, and we should have gone on to win it. Even at 2-0 down, I was still confident, and the players stepped up to the mark.

“We probably had our most experienced team out on the park last week, and that helped.”

Quite apart from know-how, the return of Blair Yule and Fraser Fyvie also added quality, a point not lost on the gaffer:

“We were more like our old selves. No-one has outplayed us this year, but it’s all about fine margins, and having top players back in the side can give us that edge. We have boys in our squad who have won trophies at the highest level, others who have won plenty here at Cove; they are winners and that is important in what we are trying to achieve.”

Edinburgh City have struggled all season, and are on a morale-sapping run of defeats, but Paul says his players have to ignore that, and focus entirely on doing their jobs:

“You have to respect your opponents; it doesn’t matter the run that they’ve been on. We’ve got to go down there and do the basics right. No matter how they’ve been playing, it will be tough, every game is in this division. What we have to do is show the same form as we did last week, cut out the errors, and cause them problems.

“The stadium is a bit different, I’ve never been to Meadowbank before, but it doesn’t matter what the venue is like, there are no excuses. The surface looks decent and we just have to go there, be as professional as we can, and do our jobs.

“The aim for us is to try to climb the league and target the top four, the play-off places, and if we can get a run going, we will clearly move up the table.”

With only long-term absentees Luke Strachan and Josh Kerr counted out, the manager has an otherwise full-strength squad to choose from.

Information for fans intending to travel to the match can be found HERE

Supporters are advised that Meadowbank Stadium is completely cashless.

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