View from the dugout

PAUL HARTLEY

I will begin by extending a warm welcome to the players, management and officials of Airdrieonians on their visit to Balmoral Stadium for what is our final League One fixture of the campaign.

As has been the case in every fixture so far at this level, we are expecting a very challenging and tough 90 minutes. I’m delighted we go into it having already secured a place in the Championship play-offs. I’m extremely proud of the players for having done that in what has been the most challenging season any of us have faced.

We’ve had to cope with two lock downs and a physically draining end to the season, with matches coming thick and fast. The players have taken all of that in their stride and maintained a high level of performance to ensure we are where we are now.

It’s already way more than we could ever have hoped for at the start of the season, when the aim was simply to finish in eighth position or above.

Making the play-offs a little more than two years after we were still a Highland League club is something the players are right to feel pleased about. Even more so because they have done it in a league that contains three full-time clubs - and have lost just one of our encounters with them so far. That is because the players just keep battling and fighting, no matter how big the challenge placed in front of them.

PAUL HARTLEY

I would also like to pay tribute to my coaching staff, who have worked tirelessly to ensure the players had the best opportunity to perform.

I also have to say a huge thanks to our physios - Donal Gallagher and Eilidh McGregor - our match analyst team of Ryan Docherty and Derek Carr, kit manager Adrian Thomson, secretary Duncan Little and security officer Bill Ogilvie, who have done an unbelievable amount of work that isn’t seen by people outside the club.

That has often included travelling to away games alone in their own cars to meet Covid protocols. They have been with us every step of the way, they have been magnificent.

Chairman Keith Moorhouse and the rest of directors also have our gratitude for the backing provided during what has been the most challenging year ever for the club. Despite no revenue coming in, they have made sure everything that was needed to help us compete at this level was there.

That includes providing the two 60 seat coaches needed so that the players could travel safely to games and the regular testing needed to allow us to take the field. Reaching the play-offs is our way of saying thanks to them.

My final thank you goes to you, the Cove Rangers fans. It has been tough for you not being able to get to games and back us in our first season competing in League One. I can assure you we have very much missed you too, especially when we have been playing at Balmoral Stadium. Many of you have done your bit by becoming members of CRFC Club 1922 and paying to watch our home games on Cove Rangers TV.

Without your support we might not have been able to do as well as we have. We will be doing our very best to ensure when you can finally come back through the gates at Balmoral Stadium it will be to watch us playing in the Championship.

We are some way from that yet - if I’ve learned anything from my time in football it’s never to look any further forward than the next match. That’s what we will be doing this afternoon.

The players, thankfully, will then get a bit of a breather before the play-offs start a week today.

Stay safe and enjoy the game.

Paul Hartley

“My final thank you goes to you, the Cove Rangers fans.”