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With the new-look Cove Rangers having made an impressive start to the season, achieving a best ever finish in the Premier Sports Cup groups and coming close to qualification, the summer signings have already made a big impression at Balmoral Stadium.

Among them is giant central-defender Justin Eguaibor, who followed his brother David in agreeing a contract, and has quickly settled into life in the north-east. The pair left Cobh Ramblers when they became free agents and were monitored by Paul Hartley in training and pre-season.

With David having already signed, Justin had to wait a little longer, but proved his quality, and was delighted to get his future sorted out:

“I was very happy to sign for this great club. It was a bit up in the air for a few weeks, being here on trial, but I thought I’d done well enough, and it was great to get the deal done.

“I’ve enjoyed the start of the season, overall I think we’ve done really well and gave a great account of ourselves in the cup, and now we’re really looking forward to the league starting on Saturday.

“I feel as if we’ve been tested, you always want to play against as high a level a team as possible, and it was good to play against Aberdeen in the friendly, Falkirk, and then a Championship side in Queen’s Park. You learn so much from that and I thought we held our own.”

Justin has eased into the middle of a back three in the early part of the campaign with Liam Parker to his left and the irrepressible Mikey Doyle on his right. He says he has immediately felt comfortable in the role:

“Both of them are much more experienced than me in terms of the Scottish league and I’m learning a lot from them. Doyley always has plenty to say, but I’ve got used to that; it feels as if it would be more of a problem if he wasn’t talking!”

When they lined-up together in the 3-0 win over Brechin City, Justin and David became the first brothers to represent the club since Jordon and Jason Brown back in the Highland League days, and the big centre-half admits he enjoys having his younger sibling alongside him:

“To be fair, we’ve always played in the same team, and it’s definitely good for us. He always does his best, he runs for the team, and he’s a great striker. The chemistry we have is unmatched and we both want to do everything we can to bring success to Cove.”

Justin is about to take a step into the unknown as he embarks on his first season in League One, but he has been well briefed by his team-mates:

“They’ve told me it’s really competitive, the level is very good, and I even saw that when I was here on trial where the gaffer was really demanding. Overall, from what I’ve seen so far, the standard is even better than I thought it would be, better than what I experienced back home in Ireland. The manager wants us playing football, he doesn’t want the ball punted forward, and that’s okay with me, it suits how I want to play.”

As for the campaign ahead, Justin is keen to make an impact both personally and with the team:

“My main aim is to have as many clean sheets as possible. Defenders can win you titles, and it would be a dream to bring another one home for this club.

“I would like to chip in with a few goals, but I’ll be defending first, that’s in my nature; I’m no nonsense, very aggressive, and I’m happy to mark anyone, do my job, and keep the ball out.”

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