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DRAPERS MENSWEAR BRAND OF THE YEAR
Manager Paul Hartley and midfielder Seb Ross spoke to the media after our 2-0 League One defeat by Airdrieonians at Balmoral Stadium.
Paul said: “I take responsibility because of the change I made to our shape. I was trying to freshen it up a wee bit because of the amount of games we’ve had.
While I take full responsibility for that, we didn’t play as well as we are capable of and the players know that. I’m not going to criticise them though because they have been magnificent the whole season. Maybe sometimes you just need a wee wake-up call.
We just didn’t have the energy levels or quality, it wasn’t a great day for us.
It was our fourth game in a week and maybe it was just asking too much (of the players). Even though we hit the woodwork, we didn’t play well enough, Airdrie were just better than us. It’s a case of accepting that and moving on.
We know we now have two huge games to look forward to. The players will get a welcome rest this week before we head into those.
Our mentality will be better, we will dust ourselves down and we will be ready to go in the play-offs.”
Seb said: “We’ve had a hectic schedule, one of the worst I’ve experienced in football, but that’s no excuse for how we played. We know we are capable of much better.
The boys, like myself, who came in needed to grab the opportunity but, unfortunately, we didn’t. It had nothing to do with the schedule, we know we can do better.
There is no point in dwelling on that though, we need to get it out of our memories because we have two massive games coming up.
If someone had told us at the start that we would be involved in the play-offs we would have been delighted. We are excited by what is ahead and will do all that we can to take the club up to the Championship.
We have shown grit and determination to get results when we needed right through the season and accept we are going to have to do that again.”
JOHN SHERAN
Cove Rangers football director John Sheran shares his thoughts on us making it to the play-offs for promotion to the Championship.... and his memories of when he managed us in play-offs three times as we battled to get up into the SPFL.
On what has been achieved already this season
To find ourselves in the play-offs for the Championship, when you look at where we were just over two years ago, is an amazing feat.
The players and management team deserve every bit of credit for doing that, very much against the odds and in a season that has been full of unexpected obstacles.
SEASON 2015-16 LEAGUE 2 PLAY-OFF
Semi-final
Cove Rangers 0 Edinburgh City 3
Edinburgh City 1 Cove Rangers 1
We were on our knees by the time we got to that play-off. The battle with Formartine United, Fraserburgh and Brora Rangers for the Highland League title had been very intense.
We had played something like 55 games because we had also done well in the cup competitions, including taking on Motherwell in the Scottish Cup.
We had a lot of replays in the Scottish Cup as well. It meant we had lost a few key players because of injuries by the time we finally got around to playing the play-off.
Darryl Nicol, our top scorer, was also playing with a groin injury when he really should have been sidelined as well.
His attitude was typical of the lads we had then, even though they were on their last legs they were eager to give it a go to see if we could make it up to the SPFL because it was something everyone at the club had dreamed about.
Because the squad was so stretched, we decided to go and attack Edinburgh in the first game in the hope of maybe building up a lead that would be too much for them to recover from in the return.
Unfortunately, they stung us with a goal on the break and killed us off over the course of that game.
It hurt, but we learned a lot that day. We still went into the second game with the belief we could get something early and maybe make them nervous. It was pretty even for the first half, but they broke away and scored again, so that was that.
We had a right go, we even stuck Eric Watson up front, but we were drained after the effort that had been put in over the season and fell short.
It was far from a wasted experience though. It was clear we would need to add more depth - and quality - to the squad if we were to have a better chance of succeeding if we made the play-offs again.
That’s exactly what we did.
SEASON 2017-18 LEAGUE 2 PLAY-OFF
Semi-final
Cove Rangers 4 Spartans 0
Spartans 2 Cove Rangers 1 Final
Cove Rangers 0 Cowdenbeath 0
Cowdenbeath 3 Cove Rangers 2
The feeling that we were robbed of what we felt we deserved from the play-offs that year remains strong to this day.
Once again, we had lost key players because of injuries. Sam Burnett and Grant Campbell had suffered cruciate ligament injuries and were ruled out for the rest of the season.
We then played played Brora Rangers a couple of weeks before the play-offs and Ryan Strachan did his ankle ligaments. Those were massive blows because all three of them had been in tremendous form. We also had so many games to play again.
On the Saturday before we faced Spartans, the Lowland League gave them a day off. The Highland League made us play, away to Wick.
We debated whether to field a weakened side, but made the correct decision to field the strongest we still had to maintain momentum going into the play-off.
The boys were fantastic at Wick, we won 3-1, and we were in the prefect frame of mind for the clashes with Spartans. We were outstanding in the first leg and managed the game down there really well too.
Despite the injuries, we were really confident and looking forward to taking on Cowdenbeath in the final.
When I look back now, we really should have got the tie done and dusted in the first leg at Inverurie, despite the fact they had the luxury of a week off to prepare while we played Spartans on the Tuesday.
We played really well, we created loads of chances, so a 2-0 or 3-0 win would have been fair reflection on that 90 minutes at Harlaw Park.
It was very much a make-shift side, so I was proud of how they played and still felt confident we could finish the job down at Central Park.
Unfortunately, that day in Cowdenbeath ended up being the most painful experience I’ve ever had in football. How we felt about some of the stuff that happened that day has been well documented.
The most I’m willing to say now is that we left Central Park convinced we didn’t get a fair crack of the whip. It was a shame because we had shown real character to come from behind to get our noses in front.
When we came in at half-time we were delighted because we felt we were the better team and had certainly played the better football.
The second half didn’t go as planned though. I still find it impossible to believe Cowdenbeath’s winning goal was allowed to stand. The four match officials should have seen our keeper, Stuart McKenzie, being rugby tackled to stop him making the save, but they didn’t. That was very disappointing.
Passions were high after that and we were castigated because we ended up getting players sent-off.
But when you view the footage, which I did along with the SFA’s disciplinary committee, none of the Cove Rangers players did anything that would have merited further punishment.
It was hard coming back up the road that day.
We had pre-arranged our player-ofthe-year awards for that night. It was a mistake because it was a horrible experience making the lads sit through that when all we really wanted to do was go home and privately reflect on the events of that day.
When I looked at them that day I made a personal vow that we would never put them - or the other people at the club - through that sort of pain again.
SEASON 2018-19 LEAGUE 2 PLAY-OFF
Semi-final
East Kilbride 1 Cove Rangers 2
Cove Rangers 3 East Kilbride 0 Final
Cove Rangers 4 Berwick Rangers 0
Berwick Rangers 0 Cove Rangers 3
What happened at Cowdenbeath left us determined to go that one step better. The big problem was that we needed to win the Highland League first - and that was far from certain. Brora Rangers pushed us all the way until the last few games.
Unfortunately, I had a personal drama to endure after our final league game, against Inverness Clachnacuddin.
We did our trophy presentations after that one - proof that we had learned from the previous summer. I then woke up on the Sunday morning, went for a shower and then - bang - the next thing I knew I was recovering from a heart attack in hospital.
I was always confident the team could cope without me. I had a fantastic management team in Graeme Mathieson and Roy McBain, we had already done a lot of work together to prepare for the play-offs.
We made sure we had people, including Paul Hartley, watching East Kilbride and Berwick Rangers. Graeme and Roy knew what needed to be done and deserve enormous credit for the way they led the team through both play-offs.
The players also deserve credit, they knew how much promotion would mean to the club and made sure nothing got in their way as they went about achieving that. The first game against East Kilbride took place the Saturday after I had suffered my heart-attack, so I wasn’t allowed to even travel.
I kept in touch on the phone and through Twitter, despite the best efforts of my wife and family to make sure I didn’t get too excited. They made me sit on the settee and watch the movie Rocketman, but my mind was always on what was happening down the road.
I came to see the boys at training before the second game, but accepted I had to stay away from that too.
There was still a job to be done, I didn’t want to be about the place and maybe risk distracting anyone in any way. I decided to go to the first game against Berwick.
I was convinced we would beat them and go up. We had done our homework and knew their heads were down.
Our performance at Balmoral Stadium was one of the best I’ve ever seen from a Cove Rangers team. From the moment Sam Burnett scored the first goal I knew our wait for promotion was about to end. Graeme and Roy kept driving them on and I was so proud to see them virtually kill the tie off in the first match.
I was given the all-clear to go to Berwick, which I will always be grateful for. It was an amazing day.
Everyone remembers the 3-0 win, but my abiding memory is the bit of crucial defending from Ryan Strachan and Scott Ross, early on, that prevent an almost certain goal for Berwick.
We then went up the park and scored our opener - and the rest is history. It was a fantastic day for everyone at the club.
It was hard not being able to properly join in the celebrations after the final whistle but I was permitted to go down to our dugout for the last 15 minutes, which meant a lot to me.
I felt so proud of the players - and pleased for all the people at the club, who had worked hard over many years hoping to eventually see Cove Rangers playing at SPFL level.
So we can keep moving forward and get back together again.
