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The team makes the marathon trip to Annan this weekend bidding to extend the impressive sequence which saw Paul Hartley and Rumarn Burrell scoop the honours in the SPFL monthly awards.

It will be just a seventh meeting of the sides, and only our second ever visit to Galabank, the previous one ending in a bizarre 6-1 defeat en-route to our League Two title triumph in 2019-20.

The earlier encounter this season was the starting point for our seven match winning run, the team romping into a 3-0 lead before Annan gave us a scare, and experienced midfielder Paul McGowan says that late comeback should act as a warning this time round:

“We will prepare right, have our pre-match meal in Hamilton, and we’ll make sure we’re ready. They gave us a game here at Balmoral Stadium when we were cruising at 3-0 up, and they might easily have got an equaliser in the end, so we know what they’re all about.

“When you look back, that win was the turning point in our season, and we have capitalised on that, but they’re a good side no matter what the league table says.

“We go there with a game plan, we need to implement that, and hopefully pick up another three points. From a personal point of view, it’s a ground I’ve never played at, so it will also be nice to tick another one off the list.”

Paul has missed just one league match this season, through suspension, and has been a mainstay throughout the recent run of improved form.

He says that recovery was always on the cards given the quality in the Cove squad:

“It did take us some time to gel, we had to stop losing poor goals and offer more of a threat, but we’ve got that balance now and we haven’t looked back. I knew we had the players there, I saw that in training, but for whatever reason we weren’t producing it on game days. That’s what has changed over the past few months.

“There were so many new faces, so much to get right, but it’s all settled down, and now we’re approaching every game with confidence. We don’t look like we’re going to get beaten, and you wouldn’t have been able to say that at the start of the season.”

“It shows the value of the work that’s been put in at training, the results have improved, you see Rumarn and the manager getting the awards this week; it’s a remarkable turnaround, and we’re enjoying that, but there’s still a long way to go to get to where we want to be.

“We have a number of young players, but you need the experience, and I think they have fed off the older guys; I know that’s exactly what I did when I was a youngster. When things are going badly, you need that knowhow, players who have been through it, and we’ve benefited from having that balance as we’ve come out of the bad spell.

“All credit to the players who have been unbelievable of late; it has been a good few weeks.”

Manager Paul Hartley is hoping to see the unbeaten sequence continue, but believes we are going to have to be close to top form to do so:

“It’s a hard game, Annan are a good outfit, they’ve got a lot of spirit in their team and it’s a tough venue to go to. You need to have the right attitude and make sure you’re ready for the challenge, and we will be.

“We had a lot of chances in the game in October, but they fought back, so we know they carry a threat. If you’re not at your best, you’re not going to succeed, no matter what level you’re playing at.”

“We’re going to have to make sure our mentality is good, we do things properly, as we have been doing, and try to keep this run going.

“You’re not going to hit top form in every game, but you have to find a way, to find solutions at times, and we’ve managed to do that. There’s been some good football, on other occasions it’s been a bit indifferent, but that’s what happens throughout a long, hard season.

“The players will have been well warned that if you take your foot off the gas, things can turn against you.

“We are always looking to improve, there’s a lot of hard work goes in every week, and if we maintain that, hopefully we will continue to reap the rewards.”

Captain Mitch Megginson returns after missing the Scottish Cup triumph at Stirling through suspension, but Fraser Fyvie has been ruled out, having had a scan on the knee injury suffered against Montrose in the middle of last month. It is planned the midfielder will see a surgeon next week to discuss the problem.

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