News

We head for Ochilview on Saturday for what will be just a seventh competitive meeting with Stenhousemuir.

The sides first met in a Scottish Cup tie back in 2009 when Cove were still in the Highland League, and lost comprehensively, but we have fared better since, winning a couple of Challenge Cup ties, and two of the three previous league encounters.

Stenhousemuir romped to the League Two title last season under Gary Naysmith, and won their opener this time round against Arbroath, but have since lost narrowly to both Kelty Hearts and Alloa Athletic on their travels.

We are still searching for our first league win of the campaign, and Paul Hartley is well aware what the big problem has been:

“We’ve played really well the last couple of games, had a two minute mad spell at Queens, and same again last week, we created so many chances, didn’t take them, and we didn’t defend the Dumbarton corner that well, and they snatched an equaliser.

“But, there were so many positives in how well we played, and if we can keep doing that, hopefully sooner rather than later we can take those chances and start picking up three points.”

When a team is going through a spell like that, the manager says it’s important for the players to remain calm and composed:

“You maybe start to snatch at things, your anticipation isn’t as good, and we’ve worked on that with the strikers this week about making those runs, getting into the right positions, and being clinical.”

“The creativity has been good, and we’ve not had the results we probably deserved, but you have to stay positive, and if you do, it will come.

“We are still a couple of players short, but I don’t think we are too far away and I can see a lot of good signs.”

Paul feels it is all about getting that first victory:

“The players are still confident, and they were so disappointed not to win the game last week. The last couple of seasons, we have started really slowly, which we had hoped to avoid this time, but once we get the first three points on the board, I’m sure that will get us up and running and we can start climbing the table.”

A couple of players are carrying knocks, but nothing major which will significantly affect the manager’s team selection. The full interview with Paul Hartley can be viewed at the Cove Rangers FC YouTube channel.

Supporters making the trip south to cheer on the team can find all the information they need at this LINK Away fans will be housed in the Donald Smillie Enclosure.

Article Copyright © 2024. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and to www.coverangersfc.com

Liam Parker Joins On Loan »