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With just four matches remaining in the season, and the race for the play-offs heating up, we head for Dumbarton at the weekend in desperate need of the three points to ease the pressure.

History is on our side in the fixture, Cove Rangers unbeaten in the last eight encounters between the sides. In fact, Dumbarton have only come out on top once against us, and that in the very first meeting of the teams.

That game took place on Saturday, December 12^th 2020, Nat Wedderburn with the only goal. Three of the Cove players who started that day – Connor Scully, Blair Yule and Fraser Fyvie – are likely to feature again on Saturday.

We got our revenge four months later, Rory McAllister settling another tight affair when he netted early in the second half.

The first of a quartet of meetings in the 2021-22 season was in the August, Mitch Megginson and Robbie Leitch scoring within a minute of each other to open up a 2-0 lead. Stuart Carswell got one back just after the interval, but a late McAllister penalty secured the victory.

Fraser Fyvie and Iain Vigurs were on target in our 2-0 win at Balmoral that August, then the points were shared in a 2-2 draw at Dumbarton in January 2022, a game which featured three spot-kicks. Carswell converted both of his, and Rory McAllister was also successful, while Scully got our second soon after.

The final encounter that season was on Saturday, April 23^rd – a fixture which went down in the history books as one of the most memorable in the club’s history. Mitch Megginson was the hero in a 1-0 victory which tied-up the League One title and sent Cove to the Championship for the first time. We remain the only side promoted through the pyramid structure to play second tier football in this country.

After two years in different divisions we resumed rivalries in August of last year. Adam Emslie put us in front after Declan Glass had missed a penalty, but Mark Durnan snatched an equaliser for the visitors deep into stoppage time.

On our last visit to Dumbarton, an outstanding performance from Balint Demus kept us in the game first half, but it was a different story after the restart with a Durnan own-goal, a Megginson rocket and an Emslie dink contributing to a 3-0 win.

The visitors took an early lead at Balmoral in February, Mitch levelling from the spot just before half-time, and the points were secured late on when captain Fraser Fyvie stepped up to curl a magnificent free-kick into the top corner.

Saturday will see the tenth head-to-head between the sides; another victory for Cove would be a massive step towards securing a play-off place.

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