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MONTROSE REACTION
Young defender Kieran Ngwenya was pleased to have played his part in our 2-0 League One victory over Montrose at Links Park.
The 18-year-old left-back, who is on loan to us from Aberdeen, impressed with his strong runs forward and powerful defending before having to go off during the second half after suffering a knock.
“I’m really enjoying my time with at the club,” said Kieran. “The situation with the pandemic and everything meant it was important I got the opportunity to play regular competitive football.
It was great to get some minutes in against Montrose and play my part in another clean sheet, which means a lot when you are a defender.
League One is a great level for me to be tested as a player. You are playing under pressure every week, which is just what I need at this stage of my career.
I try to get on the ball as much as I can and do my best to prove to the manager that I’m up to the challenge.
I’m alongside some really good, experienced, players too, I’m learning off them every day. They are also a great bunch of lads, always up for a laugh.
I’m delighted with the feedback I’ve had from the coaches with Aberdeen too, I’m still training with them every day. It’s great that the staff at Cove have helped with that by providing video clips and other information about how I have been playing, that has been much appreciated.
It’s very pleasing we now have the play-offs to look forward to. Hopefully I will get to a play a part and that we can get promotion, which would be big for the club and for me on a personal level.”
KEVIN WEBSTER
Kevin Webster reckons Cove Rangers are now in prime position to have the pick of all the best players north of Perth after making a flying start to life in the SPFL.
Former Cove winger Kevin made his first visit to Balmoral Stadium to act as the co-commentator for CRTV’s live coverage of our League One clash with Partick Thistle.
The 38-year-old Dundonian - a back-to-back Highland League title winner with Cove between 2007 and 2009 - also played for SPFL clubs Montrose, Forfar Athletic and Arbroath during an impressive career.
Kevin reckons Cove will now be the club most players in the lower divisions will be looking to join after seeing us win League Two last season and also finish in the top five in League One this term.
“Cove are ideally located to pick up some of the very best players,” said Kevin. “They should certainly do well when it comes to Aberdeen. It’s a big city, with a lot of very good players who would love the opportunity to experience what it’s like at SPFL level.
If they don’t get that at Aberdeen then you can be sure they will be looking to Cove. In time, you might find they are choosing Cove instead of Aberdeen.”
“There is no reason why there can’t be two top level sides in the Granite City, it’s certainly big enough. Cove will also be a huge attraction to players from surrounding areas, including further south.
There’s not much difference between travelling from the likes of Perth or Dundee to Aberdeen or Glasgow. But where Cove hold the advantage is anyone going to them knows they will be joining a club that has shown real ambition. They have come into the SPFL and made a huge impact.
That was helped when they appointed Paul Hartley as manager. It was a real statement of intent from the club. He enjoyed a fantastic career as a player and has also done well in management, so bringing him in underlined just how serious Cove are about wanting to make their mark in the SPFL.”
Kevin was impressed by his first look around Balmoral Stadium and admitted he knew years ago that the club would eventually go on to bigger and better things.
He said: “When I was there you could already see the club had ambitions to play at the very highest level - but what they have done since then is absolutely amazing. The new stadium is magnificent, probably the best in the lower divisions and I know they have plans to improve it even further.
They have also built up a pretty powerful squad of players, many of them who could easily hold down a place at levels higher than League One.
You can be sure they will be looking to add to that in the season’s ahead too, I’m really pleased to see my old club doing as well as they have so far.”
Kevin was a real fans’ favourite during his own time as a Cove Rangers player, after being signed by then manager John Sheran in 2008.
“I was with Arbroath but also working in Aberdeen, so the travelling up and down the road on my own for games and training was really getting to me,” he said.
“John offered me the chance to train at Cove to help me cope a bit better and I found I loved it so much I ended up signing for them instead. It led to one of the most enjoyable periods of my whole career.
We won the two league titles, loads of cups and I have many great memories of my time at the club. We had great nights out too, because we had a group of real characters about the place at that time.”
One particular team party has become legend at Cove. It was after we clinched one of those league titles, away to Wick Academy.
Rumour has it Kevin ended up minus some clothes when the team bus paused for a break at Fochabers, on the way back down the road to Aberdeen.
“I’m happy to confess now that some clothes were perhaps shed that night,” said Kevin, as he burst out laughing. You certainly wouldn’t get away with it nowadays because of all the social media stuff! That’s a blessing because when we had a reason to party, we went for it.
I can’t remember everything that went on, it was a long time ago. But I can recall Jerry O’Driscoll and myself - and maybe one other - perhaps not being as fully clothed as we were on our arrival at Fochabers.
“It was all harmless fun though and being such a close knit-bunch helped us to enjoy the success that we did.
Everybody got on and we had loads of real characters in that dressing room. We also had some fantastic players. Chief amongst them was Eric Watson, who was an unbelievable captain and outstanding defender.
Eric could put the boot in when he needed to, but was never really given credit for just how great a footballer he was.
I knew Eric before I came to Cove, he actually had a trial at Montrose when I was with them. Eric scored a hat-trick and I couldn’t believe we didn’t sign him.
I think it might have had something to do with doubts over his temperament, Eric didn’t have the best of disciplinary records in the Junior leagues back then. Montrose’s mistake was Cove’s gain though because he ended up being a great servant to the club.
“There was also a great family atmosphere at Cove, which started at the top with the board of directors and was enhanced by what John did with us as a group. You always had a sense that we were all in it together and it was good that also came across whenever we won anything - everyone was happy to enjoy it and show how much it meant to them.
The players also appreciated the way we were looked after by the club. It was things like the quality of the buses used for away games and all the preplanning to make sure we never wanted for anything.
People were happy to play for Cove because they knew they were well thought of and valued by everyone at the club.”
So we can keep moving forward and get back together again.
