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The team go in search of back-to-back league wins this weekend with the visit of local rivals Peterhead to Balmoral Stadium.

The derby follows last week’s long-awaited victory over Montrose, ninety minutes during which the players were at last able to turn recent fine play into goals.

Paul Hartley says that was a massive lift for the club, and he hopes the side can now pick up some momentum in the coming weeks:

“It is fair to say we go into this one in a much better place after last week, and the aim now is to build on that victory. It was a good performance at Links Park but getting the three points was the most important thing, and hopefully that will give the players a bit more confidence to kick-on now. At half-time last week, coming in leading – something we’ve not been used to – it was all going to be about managing the game, and we certainly did that.

“Right across the team it was a strong display, and the clean sheet pleased me as much as getting the three goals.”

Despite the poor start to the campaign, Paul maintains the players never let their heads go down and he was delighted to see them rewarded:

“I hadn’t seen the spirit draining at all in the dressing room, despite the run we had been on, but the boys needed a boost, and we got that. They had been playing well, not like a team at the bottom of the league, but we needed as result to back that up, and it just makes everybody feel better.

“You have to remember how much experience we were missing last Saturday, there was only one player over thirty in the team, Blair Yule, and we had good energy, which was what I wanted. They played with a bit of freedom too, especially after we got that first goal, and I hope to see that continue now.”

Adam Emslie had a big part to play last week, he has been enjoying being back at the club, and says he could see the signs that a win was coming:

“We thoroughly deserved the three points. In the previous few weeks we had played well, but just couldn’t find that extra piece; last Saturday it all clicked and fell into place.

“I was playing off the front and had the licence to drop in, to run off them, and with the two assists I felt that really worked for us.

“We definitely needed that confidence booster, and I think you could see that we didn’t want to sit off, we went for more goals. I could tell right away, from my first game back against Kelty, that we have good players here, and we just needed that break.

“Now we need to make the most of that, keep winning, and start climbing the table.”

The manager hopes that will begin on Saturday, and he expects a much better showing from his team from the 3-1 defeat at Balmoor earlier in the campaign:

“We were poor that day, and Peterhead have had a very strong start to the season. I expect a tough game in what is always a hard-fought local derby, and we will have to match them all across the pitch. If we do all the things we did well last week, we will give ourselves a great chance of picking up another win.

“We are still trailing in the league and the first aim for us is to catch the next team above us, which is Kelty, get on their coat-tails, and then look beyond that, but it has to be game by game.

“It is going to be about getting as many points as we can in this second quarter and see where that takes us.”

We will again be without the experienced quartet of Fraser Fyvie, Mikey Doyle, Declan Glass and Mitch Megginson, meaning the squad will be similar to last week’s at Links Park.

Read our Head-To-Head feature on the history of Cove Rangers v Peterhead in the SPFL at THIS LINK

Tickets for the match can be purchased in advance at the Cove Rangers FC website.

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