— Upcoming fixtures
H Sat 7th Nov, 2020 Cove Rangers v Forfar Athletic Scottish League 1
A Tue 10th Nov, 2020 Dundee v Cove Rangers Betfred League Cup
H Sat 14th Nov, 2020 Cove Rangers v Forfar Athletic Betfred League Cup
A Tue 21st Nov, 2020 Falkirk v Cove Rangers Scottish League 1
— Club Information
Cove Rangers FC
Balmoral Stadium
Wellington Circle, Altens Aberdeen, AB12 3JG
Te 01224 392111 Fax 01224 392859 www.coverangersfc.com
Twitter @coverangersfc
Facebook @coverangersfc Instagram @coverangersfc
Honorary President - Alan McRae
Directors
Keith Moorhouse - Chairman
Graeme Reid - Vice Chairman/Financial Controller
Duncan Little - Secretary/Stadium Manager
Darren Anderson
Grant Moorhouse
Safety Officers - John Morgan & Bill Ogilvie
Committee - Michael Coull, Mike Pirie, Richard Forbes & Gordon Taylor
Director of Football - John Sheran
Football Manager - Paul Hartley
Assistant Manager - Gordon Young
Fitness Coach - Tam Ritchie
Goalkeeping Coach - Alan Combe
Head of Youth Development- Gary Hake
Performance Analyst - Ryan Docherty
Physios - Donal Gallacher & Eilidh McGregor
Kit Manager - Adrian Thomson
Club Doctor - David Fowler
Commercial Manager - Angela Bruce
Media Officer - Charlie Allan
Child Wellbeing and Protection Officer - Kate Dean
Club Chaplain - Dougie Simpson
— Partick memory game
Connor Scully is relishing the prospect of a rematch with Partick Thistle’s in today’s League One clash at Balmoral Stadium.
Midfielder Connor is one of only three survivors in the current Cove squad who played in our only previous competitive meeting with the Maryhill Magyars, when we lost 2-1 to them at Firhill Stadium eight years ago in the third round of the Scottish Cup.
Keeper Stuart McKenzie and midfielder Blair Yule are the others who featured against a powerful Partick starting line-up that included two future Scotland players - keeper Scott Fox and full-back Stephen O’Donnell - as well as former Aberdeen striker Steven Craig.
Another ex-Don - midfielder David Rowson - began that afternoon on the bench. Connor said: “I’m really looking forward to playing against them again. It’s an opportunity to show how far we have come as a club. I like to think I’m a totally different player too, I was a bit of a failed winger back then, but feel I’ve come on leaps and bounds since being given the opportunity to play in central midfield.”
“It will be a big challenge facing a full-time side like Partick, but if I want to stay in our team I have to show I can take those sort of things in my stride.”
GAME
— Partick memory game
Managed by former Scotland, Celtic and Aberdeen defender Jackie McNamara, Partick Thistle went into the tie leading the old First Division (now known as the Championship) and would eventually be crowned champions (11 points clear of second placed Morton) to gain promotion back up into the Premiership.
They were also already through to the Ramsden’s Challenge Cup final, although the Jags would lose that, on penalties, to Queen of the South.
Kevin Tindal was our manager and we had qualified for the competition after finishing as runners-up to Forres Mechanics in the Highland League the previous season and then thrashed Golspie Sutherland 7-0 at Allan Park in the second round.
Stephen O’Donnell, now of Motherwell and Scotland, played against Cove for Partick Thistle in 2012.
Our season would end in the ultimate of highs, when a final day 2-0 win away to Formartine United would see us clinch the league title.
But all minds were on Scottish Cup glory on November 3, 2012 when the Cove players walked out at Firhill Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,917, which had been bolstered by a sizeable travelling Blue and White Army.
“IT WAS A HUGE STEP UP FOR A LOT OF US BECAUSE WE HADN’T PLAYED A SIDE OF PARTICK’S STATURE BEFORE”
“It was the first time I had played at the stadium of an SPFL club, which made things even more exciting,” added Connor, who was aged just 20 when the cup tie took place. “It was a huge step up for a lot of us because we hadn’t played a side of Partick’s stature before. But we had some really good experienced guys, like skipper Eric Watson, who kept saying it was a match we could win. We also had Paul Emslie in midfield, who was in top form.”
Despite the quiet confidence in the Cove camp, Partick made the perfect start, with Ross Forbes curling the opener past McKenzie after just 12 minutes. Our hopes of causing a shock looked to be boosted when Craig was red carded in the 26th minute for kicking out at Eric after our captain had fallen on top of him near to the touchline.
— Partick memory game
McNamara was quick to acknowledge after the game that referee Mike Tumilty had made the right call. The Partick boss said: “It was a sending off. We can’t complain about it, Steven has just been petulant. The Cove boy has fallen on top of him and he’s just stuck out a boot and caught him. Steven’s an experienced player and he knows that he’s been silly.”
Connor said: “When they got a player sent-off I remember thinking ‘the game is there for the taking now!” Unfortunately, despite the loss of Craig, Partick made it 2-0 in the 37th minute, when defender Alan Redford had the misfortune to nod a cross from O’Donnell, who now plays for Motherwell, into his own net.
Substitute Danny Milne had a great chance to get us back in the game when we were awarded a penalty in the 58th minute, after English defender Conrad Balatoni handled the ball in the Partick box.
Unfortunately for Danny, who had only been on the park for two minutes, his effort from the spot was saved by Fox.
Danny made amends by lashing a shot home from 30 yards with five minutes to go, but the 10 men of Partick held out to book a home clash with Dunfermline in the next round, which they lost 1-0.
Connor said: “We were disappointed because we felt we could have got more from the game. But you also have to give credit to Partick for the way they organised themselves after having a player sent off so early. Losing that game had benefits for us though.“
“Despite
PARTICK THISTLE 2 COVE RANGERS 1
Connor said: “We were disappointed because we felt we could have got more from the game. But you also have to give credit to Partick for the way they organised themselves after having a player sent off so early. Losing that game had benefits for us though.“
“Despite the result, we could see the gap between ourselves and the top sides wasn’t as wide as we were often told. It made us even more eager to eventually see Cove competing at SPFL level on a regular basis. It took a few more years, but for those of us who did play at Firhill it means a lot to now be competing in the same division as Partick.”
“As was the case that first time, they will be favourites to win, but we fancy ourselves against anyone at Balmoral Stadium and are eager to show them we are far better side than the one they faced in 2012.”
Partick Thistle: Fox, O’Donnell, Sinclair, Paton, Muirhead, Balatoni, Lawless (Elliott 63), Doolan (Slane 63), Craig, Forbes, Erskine (Rowson 80).
Subs: Scully, Archibald
Cove Rangers: McKenzie, Yule, Lawrie, Emslie, Redford, Watson, Singer (McCulloch 46) Beagrie, Johnston, Leyden (Milne 57), Scully (Scott 68).
Subs: Scott, Capstick, Black.
Referee: Mike Tumilty.
START PLAYING.
Rip-roaring power. Spellbinding control. Jaw-dropping accuracy. The new Mitre Delta Max SPFL. Prepare to mesmerise.
Principal Club Partner
Principal Stadium Partner
PAUL HARTLEY
I would like to welcome the players and officials of Partick Thistle to Balmoral Stadium this afternoon.
They are a full-time side with a lot of quality in their squad, so it’s no surprise they are seen as one of the favourites for promotion from League One this season.
We are really looking forward to testing ourselves against them. The only regret is that, once again, there will be no fans inside Balmoral Stadium to see the game. We would probably have been close to breaking our attendance record because we are up against good opposition and have made a strong start to our league campaign.
But I can assure those of you watching live on Cove Rangers TV that we will be doing our utmost to make this an afternoon to remember. The fact we go into this one on the back of two very pleasing victories, over East Fife and Peterhead will help. It’s always great to get some points on the board early.
HARTLEY
— View from the dugout
I praised the players for the way they applied themselves in the 3-1 win over East Fife to ensure we started our league campaign in the best possible manner. We kept the ball moving and scored three good goals and it was an added bonus to see Leighton McIntosh mark his league debut for us with a goal.
The windy conditions up at Peterhead made it difficult, it was very much a classic game of two halves. But we coped to come away with a thoroughly deserved 2-0 victory in that game too.
We defended strongly when playing against the wind and managed to get ourselves in front thanks to another excellent finish from Mitch Megginson. It was easier for us to pass the ball better in the second half and I was impressed by the way we managed to control the rest of the game.
It was also good to have the majority of our squad fit and available for the match up at Balmoor Stadium. Midfielder Fraser Fyvie was the only absentee and he remains touch and go for this afternoon as well.
We have a tight squad and everyone is going to have to do their bit over the course of the campaign, so it will be good to have Fraser back in the mix again as well.
Stay safe and enjoy the game.
Paul Hartley
“WE HAVE A TIGHT SQUAD AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO HAVE TO DO THEIR BIT OVER THE COURSE OF THE CAMPAIGN”
FIRST BLOOD: Mitch Megginson makes it 1-0 against Peterhead at Balmoor Stadium.
EARLY CRUCIAL HEROICS
Goals from captain Mitch Megginson and defender Harry Milne gave us a thoroughly deserved 2-0 League One victory over Peterhead at a very windy Balmoor Stadium.
Stuart McKenzie did his bit with some classy goalkeeping in the early stages before helping to set up the opener in a match we controlled with calmness and confidence, despite the tricky conditions.
Peterhead had the advantage of playing with the mini-gale at their backs in the first half but were repelled by the excellence of McKenzie and some top notch defending by the four men immediately in front of him, Milne, Ryan Strachan, Daniel Higgins and Scott Ross.
Once we had taken the lead, when Megginson netted his third of the campaign just after the half-hour, there was never any real doubt about who would be picking up the three points. Leftback Milne’s first of the campaign, from a perfectly placed low drive early in the second period, was the icing on the cake in a highly impressive team performance.
McKenzie made the first of his saves in the sixth minute, when he used his legs to block a 10 yard shot from Steven Boyd. The keeper followed that by stretching to push a long range effort from Alan Cook over his bar in the 11th minute.
That sparked us into life and we almost took the lead in the 14th minute. Megginson laid the ball off to Jamie Semple and his shot from just inside the Peterhead area was pushed wide of the post by the diving Josh Rae. Jamie Masson played the resulting corner short to Megginson then collected the return pass before blasting in a low shot that Rae also did well to save.
McKenzie made another crucial stop in the 25th minute when he tipped Ryan Conroy’s free-kick from wide on the right, which had got caught up in the wind, over his crossbar.
The Cove keeper capped his earlier heroics by then starting the move that saw us take the lead in the 32nd minute. His long pass out from a goal-kick, against the the strong wind, was inch perfect to Leighton McIntosh, out on the right. The former Peterhead striker quickly fed the ball forward to MEGGINSON, who brushed past a defender then scored with a powerful shot from the edge of the area that went in off the inside of Rae’s left post.
It was no more than we deserved for the way we had handled the difficult conditions and it might have been 2-0 seconds before the interval when Semple’s clever flick sent McIntosh away on the right but his dangerous cross into the six yard box was cleared.
ON TARGET: Harry Milne scores our second goal in the 2-0 victory at Peterhead.
Cove Rangers left-back Harry Milne celebrates his goal at Peterhead.
HAPPY HARRY
We totally dominated the second period, which started with Masson playing the ball to Connor Scully, who lashed a powerful 19-yard shot just wide of Rae’s left post. Centre-back Higgins stepped forward in the 51st minute to try his luck from a 25-yard free-kick but his effort cleared the crossbar by a foot or so.
Our second goal arrived in the 55th minute after Megginson had made a brilliant turn to shake off his marker as he latched on to a through pass from Scully. Megginson then tried to square the ball across the face of the Peterhead goal and when it broke back into the path of MILNE his low 12 yard shot bulleted into the far corner of the net.
Rae was forced to make another good save, after Scott Ross had back-headed a cross from a Scully corner goalwards, as we went in search of another.
The Blue Toon’s only real attack of the half ended with McKenzie making another impressive stop from Boyd’s close range header, after Conroy had sent a corner over from the right, in the 80th minute.
The match ended with Masson curling in a 22-yard free-kick that Rae touched over his crossbar as we made it an impressive two wins out of two in our first season playing at this level.
Peterhead: Rae, Freeman, Conroy, J Brown, Bailey, McCarthy, Cameron, S Brown, Lyle (Kesson 65), Boyd, Cook.
Subs: Wilson, Layne,, Bakar, Trialist, Trialist.
Cove Rangers: McKenzie, Scott Ross, Higgins, Strachan, Milne, McIntosh (Watson 80), Semple (Seb Ross 72), Yule, Scully, Masson, Megginson (McAllister 89).
Subs: Livingstone, Brown, Graham, Demus.
Referee: Alan Newlands.
MANAGEMENT
DEFENDERS
GOALKEEPERS
AVAILABLE
Stuart McKenzie
Paul Hartley
Gordon Young
Harry Milne
Ryan Strachan
Adam Livingstone
Balint Demas SPONSORSHIP
Ross Graham SPONSORSHIP
Scott Ross
Tom Leighton
Blair Yule
Jamie Masson
Fraser Fyvie
Jordan Brown
GORDON CAMPBELL
Semple
Leighton McIntosh
— Season 2020/21 statistics
CAPTAIN’S WEIV
WE ARE ALL REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO PLAYING AGAINST PARTICK THISTLE THIS AFTERNOON...
....It’s our first season in League One, so every game is going to be a test for us. But you know it’s going to be particularly challenging when you come up against full-time opponents.
From our point of view, we feel fit enough to match the fulltime sides. That’s all down to the professionalism of the training we get at Cove.
I’ve been a full-time player and can assure you what we are asked to do is on a par with what any of the top sides in the country do.
Even though we only train two nights, the sessions are intense and you can see how hard the coaching staff have worked to ensure we make the best use of the time we are together.
— Captain’s view
It means we go into every game convinced nobody will outrun or outwork us. We proved that in the recent League Cup clash with Hibs, who are also a full-time club. We competed with them right to the final whistle, so we will go into this game confident we will be able to do the same against Partick Thistle.
Starting our league campaign with two wins, at home to East Fife and away to Peterhead, will help as well. We set very high standards last season so it’s pleasing that we have managed to maintain those so far - but we never take anything for granted.
It’s always been a case of pressing the restart button when the first whistle goes in the next game and doing all that we can to win again. My own confidence has been lifted by scoring three league goals so far.
Having gone seven months without football, it’s hard to describe just how good it feels to be hitting the net again.
I’m pleased I’ve managed to score three times, in a variety of manners. I was particularly happy with my goal up at Peterhead. It was a good finish into the bottom corner and helped us go on to win what we knew was going to be a very tough game.
When you see the competition we have for places up front, with both Leighton McIntosh and Rory McAllister having arrived at the club this year, I know the pressure is on me big style to keep the goals coming. It’s the sort of pressure I relish though.
CYCR!
Mitch Megginson
Labrokes League Division 2 Winners: 2019-20
Highland League Winners:
2000-01, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2012-13, 201516, 2017-18, 2018-19
Runners-up: 1989-90, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2016-17
Scottish Qualifying Cup (North) Winners: 1990-91, 2000-01
Runners-up: 1988-89, 1991-92, 2001-02, 2003-04
Highland League Cup Winners: 1994-95, 1999-2000, 2004-05, 2014-15, 2016-17, 2018-19
Runners-up: 1990-91, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1997-98, 200506, 2007-08, 2011-12
Aberdeenshire Cup Winners: 2001-02, 2010-11, 2018-19
Runners-up: 1992-93, 1994-95, 2016-17, 2017-18
Aberdeenshire Shield Winners: 1990-91, 2000-01, 2008-09, 2017-18
Runners-up: 1994-95, 2012-13, 2015-16
Aberdeenshire & District League Winners: 2000-01, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15
Runners-up: 2006-07
Aberdeenshire Centenery Cup Runners-up: 1986-87
Inter-League Trophy Winners: 2001-02
—
Cove Rangers FC
Manager - Paul Hartley
1. Stuart McKenzie
2. Tom Leighton
3. Harry Milne
4. Connor Scully
5. Scott Ross
6. Ryan Strachan
7. Broque Watson
8. Blair Yule
9. Mitchel Megginson (C)
10. Jamie Masson
11. Leighton McIntosh
12. Daniel Higgins
13. Rory McAllister
14. Adam Livingstone
15. Jamie Semple
16. Seb Ross
18. Jordon Brown
21. Balint Demus
24. Fraser Fyvie
Team colours
Blue & white jerseys
Blue Shorts
White Socks
Partick Thistle FC
Manager - Ian McCall
1. Jamie Sneddon
2. Ryan Williamson
3. James Penrice
4. Tam O’Ware
5. Darren Brownlie
7. Joe Cardle
8. Stuart Bannigan
9. Brian Graham 10. Zak Rudden
11. Blair Lyons 14. Shea Gordon 17. Connor Murray 18. Lewis Mansell
21. Mouhamed Niang
22. Richard Foster
23. Ross Docherty
27. Luke Scullion
28. Andrew Rodden
29. Dean Watson
30. Bradley Renfrew
Team colours
Red and yellow jerseys
Black shorts
Black Socks
Today’s referee - David Lowe
Today’s assistant referees - Graham McNeillie, Ross Clark