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The team kicks-off its pre-Christmas home double header this weekend when Alloa Athletic are the visitors to Balmoral Stadium.

Alloa won the earlier encounter 1-0 at The Indodrill back in September, the last time we tasted defeat, and Cove have since embarked on an eleven match unbeaten run and eight successive victories.

Paul Hartley hopes to see that form continue against the Clackmannanshire side:

“We’re going along nicely right now, which is a credit to all the players and how hard they have been working.

“We’ve got a really good team now, and what pleased me more than anything last weekend was that when we went down to ten men, it didn’t affect us, and the players who came on just slotted into position and got on with it.

“The system we’re using is working. It obviously didn’t happen overnight, and we’ve had to work hard on it, and the signs are there for all to see that we are in a good place.”

“The way we’re playing is a system I used a lot back in the early days of my management career at Alloa, it was my go-to, fairly simple, and the players all know their jobs and responsibilities.

“A few months ago, we probably went back to basics. We hadn’t had our strongest team at the start of the season, and we needed to find stability. It was similar back in the 2021/22 campaign, we didn’t get off a great start then for the same kind of reasons, but when we got up and running, we ended up having that long, unbeaten run.

“I thought back to that, I looked at the fact that we don’t have great natural width in the current side, and I knew we had to find a way to get the best out of the players. That’s what we’ve been able to do, but it’s also down to the boys buying into it, for them to understand their roles both in and out of possession, and to implement that.

“There’s a balance now, they’re helping each other out. If one goes forward, the other sits in, and it’s working, but we need to keep hammering home the fine details, we all need to keep at it and not let our standards drop.”

Captain Mitch Megginson shares that determination and says all the players are fully focused on keeping the run going:

“We know Alloa pretty well, and we will be looking to put in a much better performance than we did down there earlier in the season.

“We are approaching it with confidence, the games just can’t come quickly enough when you’re on the kind of run we are right now, and there’s a real feeling of positivity around the stadium.

“No-one is getting carried away though, we know exactly what’s expected of us, and everyone is determined to put another three points on the board.”

Mitch is also hoping to keep building on what has become a lethal partnership with top scorer Rumarn Burrell:

“I think everyone can see that we work well as a pair.

“He has frightening pace, a nice touch and an obvious eye for goal, and is on an incredible goalscoring streak, whereas a lot of the time I’m dropping a bit deeper to help link-up the play.

“I’m hoping the partnership can become even more successful as the season goes on, and hopefully I can now get more of an extended run in the side, which will allow us to build the relationship further.

“I know a lot of people will probably view me simply as an out and out goalscorer, but I’ve always tended to drop back a bit and get involved, and it’s something I enjoy. Of course, I love scoring, but I’ve always taken a real pride in the other parts of my game, and I will do whatever I can to help the team.”

Josh Kerr is out suspended, and the manager will also be without injured pair Fraser Fyvie and Luke Strachan, but Nick Suman has recovered from the ankle knock which saw him miss last week’s win at Annan.

Fans can get their tickets in advance HERE and are reminded that half season tickets are now on sale at this LINK

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