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The team faces a massive ninety minutes on Saturday, knowing that a win over Alloa Athletic will clinch a spot for the club in the Championship playoffs.

Cove Rangers have only once previously taken part in the end of season shoot-out, the gut-wrenching extra-time defeat to Airdrieonians in 2021 after we had taken the lead in the 90^th minute, but we have in our ranks a player who knows the playoffs inside-out.

Mikey Doyle has played in them five times since 2013, coming out on top on four occasions, and he is fired-up for more success:

“It’s exciting, you want to be in there. We know the league has gone now, and congratulations to Arbroath, but we’re in the mix, and I’ve said all along, it’s not how you start the season, it’s how you finish it. We need to be strong to get over the line.

“Being involved in the playoffs is like nothing else you experience in the game, and you have to be ready for them.”

On that note, Mikey gave us a rare insight into what was said during the pre-match huddle ahead of last week’s encounter at Dumbarton:

“I’ll let you into wee secret. When we all huddled together just before kick-off last Saturday, I said to the boys, if you think winning games, winning leagues is good, you can’t imagine what it’s like to come through the playoffs. I’ve been on that journey, and I told them, this is something you will remember for the rest of your lives.”

“If we’re to experience that, we had to start winning again, and I said the road to the playoffs starts here. We needed the three points, and we got them.”

The veteran defender says it is a special, unique type of pressure when you get to those games:

“It’s massive! You want to get over the line. Right now, we’re the team everyone is chasing, but I’ve seen sides fall away, I’ve seen others make a late charge. It’s like the old saying, ‘the guy at the top of the mountain isn’t as hungry as those climbing the mountain’. We need to be hungrier than everybody else.”

While the main target is to reach the playoffs, finishing as runners-up is also of benefit:

“I’ve finished second, I’ve finished lower, and I can tell you it’s generally a huge advantage having your home leg second.

“That said, once you’re in there, anything can happen. With Queen’s Park, we fell out of the top four at one point, but eventually squeezed in. We finished twenty-one points behind second-placed Airdrie the year Cove won League One, but we beat them in the playoff final with a Simon Murray penalty in extra-time. We got promoted from fourth place.”

More than anything Mikey says, the next few weeks are all about ensuring the players are left with no regrets:

“I’ve said to the boys, don’t let all that hard work go to waste. All those months, the injuries, the red cards, the tough afternoons and the squad sticking together; this is where it really matters.

“It’s a great dressing room, the boys are all locked in, from the older heads to the younger ones; we all know this is something worth chasing and it’s a great thing to have on your CV.

“Think of all the teams, all the players, all those careers. For most of us, you only get that tiny bit of success, and when the chance comes you have to grab it. Trust me, it’s something you never forget.”

It would be great to have a big crowd at Balmoral Stadium on Saturday, backing Mikey and the boys – get your tickets in advance at THIS LINK

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