Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley will rotate his squad for the rest of the season due to a fixture schedule which is “not ideal.”
Clubs in League One and League two must get 18 league games completed by April 20, meaning Cove have seven matches to play in the next month.
The leagues will then break into a top and bottom split, with a further four games being scheduled over a 10-day period prior to the end-of-season play-offs.
Championship clubs were reportedly unwilling to push back the dates of the play-offs significantly, which would have given clubs in the two divisions more wiggle room to finish the season.
It will increase demands on players, who have not played for more than two months, and Hartley will utilise his squad to try minimise the impact of the schedule.
🆕 The @spfl has this afternoon released the full pre-split fixtures for League One
The full list of fixtures can be viewed here 👇🏻https://t.co/4jKtZlE7qi
— Cove Rangers FC (@CoveRangersFC) March 16, 2021
He said: “It’s a tough period we’ve got coming up over the next four-to-six weeks possibly.
“It’s not ideal. It’s quite a quick turnaround, but we’ve got to get on with it as best we can.
“I think most teams, if not every team, will suffer injuries in this period. Mainly muscle injuries.
“There’ll be rotation of our squad – there’s got to be. There’s too many games.
“It’s going to be play, recover, play, recover. They know the way we play, so that’s not an issue. It’s about keeping them as fresh we can for the games.”
Cove resume their League One campaign at Partick Thistle today from second place, after a strong start to life in the third tier.
They go into the game with only one injury absentee, as defender Harry Milne underwent ankle surgery this week and saw his season ended early.
However, Cove have been lifted by the news that captain and leading goalscorer Mitch Megginson has committed himself to a new three-year contract at the club.
Megginson has netted 168 goals in 189 appearances for the club since joining in 2016 and has continued his scoring form since moving from the Highland League to the SPFL.
Hartley said: “It’s massive. He’s our captain and he’s a good leader for us. It was important to get him tied down and he can concentrate on enjoying his football for the next couple of seasons.
“He dropped down to the Highland League – for Mitch it was all about enjoyment. We’ve shown commitment, he’s shown commitment, so it works for both parties.
“He can focus and enjoy his football and do what he does best: try get as many goals as he can between now and the end of the season.”
Hartley has not set any targets for the seven-game sprint Cove have got in front of them, however, they are in a good position for a top-half finish.
He added: “We’ll try get through the rest of the season as best we can and whatever happens, happens.
“We’re all making sure we get to 18 games and then we’ve got four after that. Who knows what can happen. There’s potentially a lot of games in the next five or six weeks.
“The seven games, we’ll just try and go for it as best we can. We’ll try make the most of it and accumulate as many points as we can.
“We’ll not be criticising our players whatever happens, because it’s been such an indifferent season for everybody. This lay-off has been a lot longer than anyone anticipated.”