Victory against Falkirk further strengthened their promotion push – but Cove Rangers aren’t getting carried away.
A brace from captain Mitch Megginson gave the Aberdeen side a deserved 2-0 win against the Bairns.
With five games left – starting against Montrose tomorrow night – Cove are behind Falkirk on goal difference at the summit of League One.
Reflecting on Saturday’s victory and looking ahead to the run-in, skipper Megginson said: “I thought the boys to a man were different class.
“Falkirk launched the ball forward at times to disrupt our play.
“But I thought when we attacked we got the ball down and played and fully deserved the win.
“We just take it one game at a time and that’s just how we go about our business.
“There’s five games to play and a lot to play for, but we have to focus on Tuesday night now and a game against Montrose.
“There is that chance (to get promoted) and I think at the start of the season we wanted to be in a position where we gave ourselves an opportunity at getting up, whether it was in the play-offs or being up there at the end of the season.
“We’re competing with three full-time teams, we don’t have a big squad and we’ve lost two important members of our team (Jamie Masson and Harry Milne to injury).
“We have to dig in, we’ll play against a good Montrose side and that’s the next focus for us.”
Megginson had an early penalty claim turned down by referee David Dickinson, but he broke the deadlock after 12 minutes.
Connor Scully’s inswinging corner from the right was flicked on by Scott Ross at the front post and Megginson produced a fantastic overhead kick which went in via the underside of the crossbar.
Megginson added: “I was happy in that situation to find the back of the net rather than it going over.
“It was good to get good contact on it and for it go in.”
In response, Falkirk defender Kyle McClelland headed straight at home goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie from Blair Alston’s corner.
At the other end Mark Durnan almost put through his own net from another Scully corner, but Aidan Keena was on the line to clear.
A minute into the second half, the visitors had their best chance when Fraser Fyvie gave away possession to Callumn Morrison on the right flank and his cross found Conor Sammon, who headed against the bar from six yards.
Two minutes later Cove made the visitors pay by doubling their advantage. Fyvie’s free-kick from the left wasn’t dealt with and when the ball broke to Megginson he calmly finished from close range.
Cove twice came close to adding a third after that with Falkirk goalkeeper Robbie Mutch making impressive stops to foil Connor Smith and Blair Yule.
The Bairns kept plugging away, but never looked particularly likely to make a comeback.
Since the lower leagues resumed last month, Cove are unbeaten in six league fixtures and head into the final few weeks of the campaign in fine form.
Manager Paul Hartley said: “I thought we were terrific from start to finish, in how we managed the game.
“There were different sides to the game for us. We had to deal with the directness that they play.
“We coped with that and played some great stuff. It was a really strong 90-odd minutes from us.
“Mitch improvised really well for the first and for his second he showed great composure.
“It was a good day for us, but there are five tough games to go, and it was important that we got the three points.
“We’re strong at home, but I was really pleased with the overall performance.
“Good teams base themselves on clean sheets. It was good defensive duties, and offensively I thought Rory McAllister was terrific and gave us a different dimension.
“Three or four other teams are in a good position. At the start of the season our aim was to finish eighth or above and we’ve now secured top five, which is terrific for the club.
“We’re against teams that are full-time and clubs that are really knowledgeable at this level. Credit must go to the players, who have really worked hard.”