Former Aberdeen midfielder Jamie Masson is confident he and his team-mates will hold their own in the SPFL – should Cove Rangers replace Berwick Rangers’ in League 2 next term.
The ex-Dons and Formartine United player scored Cove’s last goal in last Saturday’s excellent 3-0 home semi-final play-off victory over East Kilbride.
The 26-year-old with a penchant for scoring vital goals, said: “As well as playing for Aberdeen in the Premier League I was also on-loan at Brechin City in League 1 and Elgin City in League 2 so I know a little bit about what it takes to play in the Scottish League.
“This group of guys I’m playing alongside, most of them could play at a higher level anyway so if we do get past Berwick Rangers over the next two weekends I think we have a fair chance of doing well if we go up.
“We will try to take how we played in the two games against East Kilbride into the home and away legs against Berwick Rangers and hopefully we can start at the same tempo and get a good result in the home leg to take down to Berwick in the second leg.”
Masson was part of the Cove side which lost last season’s play-off final to Cowdenbeath but he believes the experience gained and the circumstances of this year’s final gives his club a better chance of going up.
He said: “Last season we could only draw 0-0 with Cowdenbeath up at Harlaw Park in Inverurie. We had a few chances that day and even in the away leg down there, we really didn’t turn up on the day and we were far from our best.
“One big difference however is that last year we had five or six boys out injured at this stage of the season, and Dan Park was unavailable for the second leg as his wife was about to have a baby.
“But this time around we have a full squad of 20 players to pick from so obviously it will be a lot easier for the management team.
“I’m enjoying my midfield role at the moment, sometimes I play on the left and other times I’m in the middle, or in the hole, just behind the strikers, but to be honest I’m happy to play anywhere, just to get a game.
“I enjoyed scoring my goal against East Kilbride last weekend, I took it well, I was maybe off-balance a bit but thankfully it still went in.”
The Press and Journal named Banks o’Dee as Aberdeenshire Cup winners in yesterday’s edition of the newspaper. To clarify Cove Rangers are the holders of the trophy after beating the junior club 4-1 in the final earlier this season.