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We are on the road for the second successive weekend as the team takes on Stirling Albion at Forthbank, a 5.30pm kick-off, live on BBC Alba.

Our most recent meeting saw Albion prevail a League Cup group match at Balmoral in 2021, but Cove have dominated the three previous league encounters, emerging victorious in each, most spectacularly with a 7-1 success en-route to our League Two triumph, the club’s record SPFL win.

The game comes on the heels of back-to-back 2-2 draws, matches which produced very different performances, and manager Paul Hartley is hoping to see the side recreate the attacking football on display against Kelty Hearts and Edinburgh City, with an improvement at the other end of the pitch:

“We were very good against Kelty, but having watched back the whole of last Saturday’s match, we did well first half, we were excellent going forward, loads of attempts on goal, but we’re conceding too many, it’s sloppy, and we need to cut that out.

“It’s about finding the balance, we need to defend as a team and we need to be better at set-plays, we’re losing too many goals from those positions, so we just need individuals to do their jobs. If we get that right, and continue to create the chances we have been, we’ll be fine. Our attacking play is as good as anybody in this league.”

Paul still has fond memories of that seven goal romp in Stirling three years ago, and says he is eager to see his side hit those kind of heights again:

“What a night that was! It was the last game before COVID and it was an outstanding team performance. Great memories, and I would love to see the team play like that on Saturday. Those moments come along rarely – and I’ve also been on the end of one in my career – so you have to savour them. It was brilliant, so pleasing, and some of the guys who played that evening are still at the club, so I hope they can tap into that memory.”

“I have to say though that Stirling are a good team right now. Darren Young was my captain when I was at Alloa, and he’s done a superb job there. It’ll be tough and we’re going to have to be on it if we’re to get the result we want.”

In the past couple of weeks, the manager has altered the training programme, with the whole squad now working together on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The full-time players had previously been in during the day on Tuesdays, but Paul says the change is part of adapting to the hybrid model, and he believes the benefits are already being seen:

“You need to learn, you need to adjust all the time in this job and it was always going to be a learning curve this year as we transition towards the full-time model. You just need to keep believing in the process and what we’re doing.

“I think the rewards are coming, and I have been able to get more experience into the team, which has definitely helped. We’ve got some young players there, and when you’re not getting the results, that can be tough on them. Having boys who have been over the course before can make a big difference.

“More than anything, we just need to find that level of consistency. No-one has outplayed us so far, and we should have more points on the board. I’m hoping we can now get a run going and start climbing the table.”

Long term injury victims Luke Strachan and Josh Kerr will again be missing, and having returned from his lengthy layoff, Blair Yule is being monitored, but the manager has an otherwise full strength squad to choose from.

Supporters planning on travelling down to back the team can find ticket information HERE.

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