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Having become the first team in League One this season to win three successive matches, hitting the top of the table in the process, we make the trip down to Dumbarton this weekend looking to extend our impressive run.

Cove have lost only one of the previous seven encounters between the sides, but the most recent one at Balmoral was a painful experience. With the team 1-0 up late on and closing in on what would have been our first victory of the campaign, Mark Durnan was given a free header deep into stoppage time to net the equaliser.

We lost the next week at Stenhousemuir, but the last couple of months have seen a huge improvement in form, and Paul Hartley says the side heads for The Rock with confidence high:

“It’s been good! The clean-sheets, three 2-0 victories, the team’s playing well; we’ve found a bit of everything these last few weeks.

“Last Saturday, the first half wasn’t the best, but we managed it and found a way, were much better after the break, and I’ve got to say the players have been excellent the last month or so. That’s down to the hard work they’ve been putting in in training, and the confidence that comes from the kind of run we’ve been on.”

“Having hit the top of the league, the challenge is now to stay there. Expectation levels become a little bit higher, so you have to handle that too, but we’ll keep our feet on the ground and not get too carried away.”

After naming an unchanged line-up for the last three matches, the manager will be forced into making a change with the news that Liam Parker is out. The on-loan St Johnstone central defender – who has been outstanding since arriving – broke a metatarsal in his foot at Links Park and will be missing for six to eight weeks:

“I really feel for him. He’s been absolutely excellent since he came here, he gave us good balance, and he’s fitted in so well. He will be a big miss, but I do have some options, and it will be up to someone else to take their chance and try to keep the jersey.”

Paul says that disappointment cannot be allowed to derail us in any way, but he warns it will be another demanding ninety minutes on the Clyde coast:

“There’s only five points between us and Dumbarton, who are ninth; there’s nothing in it right now. They’re a hard team to play against and they’ve had a couple of good results against two good teams. It is a difficult venue, the games of theirs I’ve watched there’s been a lot of wind, so you have to handle the conditions too.

“We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing and keep the standards high.”

Supporters are reminded that the game is a 2.00pm kick-off.

Tickets can be purchased in advance HERE but cash gates will be in operation on the day. Cove Rangers supporters should enter through turnstiles 1 & 2 at the home end.

Prices are…

Adults £18

Students and 65+ £13

Under 16s £5

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