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With the club having celebrated its 150^th SPFL game in the recent encounter with Montrose, one Cove Rangers player is now targeting his own personal milestone.

It came as no surprise to discover Mitch Megginson has been top scorer since the step-up from the Highland League, netting more than a quarter of our goals, but it was Connor Scully who topped the appearance list.

The midfielder has started 139 matches and come on as substitute on five other occasions. In total, his remarkable consistency and fitness levels mean Connor has missed just seven of the league games we have now played, and is aiming for that 150 figure by the end of this campaign.

It is a record of which he is rightly proud:

“I really am! It’s great that these old legs can keep playing, particularly on the astroturf. It’s tough on the body that’s for sure, you feel it the next couple of days, but yes, extremely proud, and the family are as well.

“It speaks to my fitness, but also my consistency I guess, and that’s why the gaffer likes me. I’d say I’m normally a seven or eight out of ten every week and that’s a big part of my game. I couldn’t have imagined having the career here that I have! It was Edser (former kit-man Adrian Thomson) who took me in as a sixteen year old to play in the old Denis Law tournament at Seaton Park, and I’m still here!

“It’s been amazing; so many memories, so many brilliant team-mates.”

During his time with Cove in the SPFL Connor has lined-up alongside seventy-five separate players, and inevitably there are a few who stand out:

“It’s the characters in the changing room that always stick in your head, and I’ve made so many friends. Jamie Masson, being the kind of guy he is, probably tops the list and it was never dull when he was around! But there are plenty others, guys like Paul McManus, Jimmy (Martin) Scott, going back to Eric Watson, and so many more. Different personalities, but they all made such an impact, and as a younger player I learned so much from them. I still try to do that to this day.”

The core of players who battled up from the Highland League with Connor has been whittled down with the likes of Masson, Scott Ross and Stuart McKenzie moving on, but some still remain, and the midfielder believes that is key to everything the club achieves:

“You need that stability. There were big changes last summer, but we still have that heart of the team with myself, Blair and Mitch, and the likes of Fraser Fyvie and Mark Reynolds who came in a bit later. We have a lot of young players who benefit from that experience, just as I did all those years ago.”

Connor still has a number of targets he hopes to tick off.

He is just six short of hitting his own personal tally of 150 SPFL league games for the club, and he also has an eye on Stuart McKenzie’s record of fifty straight starts set in our first couple of seasons after promotion. Connor is currently on thirty-eight:

“That one will have to be next season then! The targets are nice, but I just don’t like missing games, that’s what drives me on.

“I had to come off at Alloa a few weeks back, bruised ligaments which meant I could hardly walk for a few days, but I’m a quick healer, and Charlotte (club physio) was really surprised that I got back for the next game. I admit I’m not the greatest trainer! I put my heart and soul into it, it’s just that I prefer playing.”

“I would like to know exactly how many matches I’ve played counting the Highland League days, I know it’s up around the 500 appearances mark, and I just want to keep adding to that.”

Cove Rangers fans will be delighted to hear that despite it taking a bit longer now to recover from the rigours of the games, Connor Scully has no intentions of calling it a day any time soon:

“I think it’s actually helped that I’ve always played part-time, I’m always on the move with my job, not stuck behind a desk stiffening-up and having to train afterwards, and it works for me.

“There’s still plenty I want to achieve in the game, I’ve loved my time with Cove, and I hope that continues for years to come.”

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