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After three away games in a row, the team is back at Balmoral Stadium this weekend for a first encounter of the campaign with near neighbours Arbroath in front of the BBC Alba cameras.

The sides have only previously met on four occasions, Cove remaining unbeaten during the Championship season with two draws and two wins, and we go into this one in good spirits, having taken seven points from the recent meetings with Montrose, Kelty Hearts and Caley Thistle.

Our visitors sit at the foot of the table, and Paul Hartley says this is an opportunity we have to make the most of:

“We’re in a good place right now, strong performances in a couple of tough away games, and we’ve been on our travels a fair bit, so it’s nice to be back at home, under the floodlights, and in front of the TV cameras.

“We want to continue our form, you need to build momentum in this league, and that was why getting at least a point last week up in Inverness was really important. They are probably the best footballing team we’ve come up against this season, so the draw was a good result, and now we look to keep the run going.”

Arbroath have had a turbulent couple of years. Having just missed out on promotion to the top-flight in 2022, they narrowly avoided the drop the year we went down, then did so at the end of last season. Dick Campbell was sacked, Jim McIntyre has come and gone, and the Gayfield club now have Colin Hamilton and David Gold as co-player/managers.

Paul expects it to be a challenging ninety minutes:

“It’s always tough when you face Arbroath, they have a certain style despite having changed their manager again, but we have the confidence right now, and we want to use that. Against them, you have to be up for the battle, the fight, and your attitude has got to be right.

“They’ve got experience in their side, but it’s up to us, we’ve got to take the game to them, play the way we want to, and try to pick up three more points.”

Nick Suman will miss the game after picking up a knee injury in the Highland capital, and while we await the result of a scan, it seems likely he will be out for a period of time. That will mean a recall for Balint Demus, a goalkeeper Paul has high regard for:

“Bal did well coming on in Inverness, he looked really assured, and he is a quality keeper. We know he can come in and fill that position, I have no concerns about that.”

Declan Glass will again be out, while a late decision will be taken on Fraser Fyvie, also absent last weekend, and a few others who are carrying knocks.

“The physio room has been fairly quiet, Charlotte has not had a lot of work to do, then you suddenly get three or four on the bounce. Hopefully, we’ll get a couple back for the weekend, then we’ll see where we are.”

The match is a 5.30pm kick-off and supporters are reminded to get their tickets in advance at THIS LINK

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