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Cove Rangers finding out how difficult League One is – Mitch Megginson

by Jamie Durent
22/12/2020, 12:00 pm
© Darrell Benns / DCT MEDIACove Rangers captain Mitch Megginson.
Cove Rangers captain Mitch Megginson.

Cove Rangers skipper Mitch Megginson believes they are finding out the hard way how difficult League One can be.

Saturday’s defeat to Clyde, which came courtesy of a last-minute Mark Lamont strike, was Cove’s fourth defeat in five games and has cast a shadow over a promising start to the season.

Megginson, who returned to the side after a hamstring injury to bag a brace, said the individual mistakes made by the team were being punished.

They were frontrunners last campaign in League Two, emerging as clear champions when the season ended, but this season has been much more difficult to get to grips with.

Megginson said: “We’re going through a bit of a tough period. We’re dominating games but we can’t defend like that at this level. We’re finding that out quickly.

“You can’t lose three goals at home and expect to come away with the points. We’ll have a good week’s training and prepare for Forfar, to get this out of our system.

“The first four games were very good but since then we’ve not been at our best. That’s more collectively as a team, we need to be more solid and win second balls.

© Darrell Benns / DCT MEDIA
Mitch Megginson scored twice against Clyde.

“It was never going to be easy in this league. We need to focus on doing the basics to get back to winning ways.”

Cove have not had to contend with a run like this in their recent history, after years of success and challenging for titles in the Highland League.

Manager Paul Hartley said after the game on Saturday the onus was on the players to stand up and be counted, to ensure they did not get involved in a battle at the wrong end of the table.

Megginson added: “We’ve got an experienced squad who knows how to respond to setbacks. Obviously we’ve not experienced it in the last four years but we’ve got enough players who’ve played in this league and higher.

“There’s no point in getting down. We need to stay upbeat. If we were getting battered by teams then we’d have a concern but we’ve been on top for most of the games and switching off.”