View from The Dugout

JIM MCIntyre

Welcome to Balmoral Stadium for the third of our Premier Sports Cup group ties, against last season’s League Two winners Kelty Hearts.

The Fife side have followed our route into the SPFL, were impressive in their debut campaign, and like Cove, are under new management in the shape of John Potter.

They are as ambitious as we are, and I wish them well as they step up into League One this season. That said, I hope to give Kelty a less than enjoyable ninety minutes this evening. My players are hurting after the weekend defeat to Livingston, and I will be expecting to see a reaction tonight.

We had lots of possession against David Martindale’s team, and I was really pleased with the opening twenty minutes or so, but the sending-off changed things, they sat in, and we found it difficult to break them down.

We took the lead at a great time thanks to a superb strike from Iain Vigurs, and we warned the boys at half-time that Livi would be dangerous on the counter attack. That’s exactly how it turned out, and we didn’t manage the game in the way we should have.

“It is frustrating, but I’ll keep scouring the transfer market and hopefully we’ll be able to add the quality I’m looking for.”

There was a lack of composure, a lack of patience in the second half, and we just didn’t show that bit of quality we needed to punish them. There were some really good opportunities, but not that cleverness, the execution of pass we required.

It was a learning curve for the players; they need to be switched on at all times, they need to be more ruthless. Having said all that, there was a lot of good play and plenty encouraging signs. I have faith in the boys, and I don’t think we’re far away from putting it all together.

I have had to ask a lot of the boys in this early part of the season and some of them have had to play more football than I’d have wanted them to. That’s down to the fact we’re still short on numbers, but I can promise you I’m doing everything I can to rectify that. We’ve been close to adding to the squad on a number of occasions only for the deal to fall through at the last minute.

It is frustrating, but I’ll keep scouring the transfer market and hopefully we’ll be able to add the quality I’m looking for. In the meantime, it’s up to lads to keep up the energy levels, and give their all. I’m sure they will do just that.

With Caley Thistle off to a flier in the group and a home game against Albion Rovers tonight, we know what we need to do if we’re to keep alive our hopes of making it to the knockout stages.

Enjoy the game! Jim McIntyre