Connor Scully has backed Cove Rangers to cope with their hectic schedule of four games in seven days in the League One run-in.
While League One and Two clubs have already crammed in games to get to the 18-game mark by this weekend, they will now enter top and bottom-half splits.
Cove’s 1-0 defeat on Tuesday night to Montrose meant they head into the split in third and subsequently handed four games in seven days, starting with Falkirk tomorrow.
The Aberdeen side will be idle on the last matchday – May 4 – but must play Partick Thistle on Tuesday at home, with a return visit to Montrose on Thursday before Airdrieonians head to the Balmoral Stadium next Saturday.
With Harry Milne and Jamie Masson already missing for the season, Cove also saw Scott Ross and Mitch Megginson come off with knocks on Tuesday night and defender Ryan Strachan was given a straight red card.
It throws additional obstacles in the way of Cove’s chances of earning promotion, but Scully has backed the squad to be able to cope with the demands.
Scully said: “It’s going to be tough, but the boys know we need to recover well. I think we’ll be fine; hopefully we stay away from picking up a lot of knocks. Hopefully we’ll be alright.
“If we recover well, hopefully we’ll be ready for Saturday. I’ll be ready (for four games in a week) – I’m always ready as soon as I step on the pitch.
“As long as we recover and rest well, we’ll be fine.”
Tuesday’s game was the first defeat for Paul Hartley’s men since they returned to action last month. They remain just two points off leaders Partick heading into the four-game shoot-out.
Tomorrow’s opponents Falkirk have visited the north-east twice in the last week and been beaten on both occasions. Cove beat them 2-0 last weekend courtesy of a Megginson double, while they were beaten 1-0 at Peterhead on Tuesday night, which saw management duo Lee Miller and David McCracken removed from their posts.
Scully does not see too much of an advantage from facing the Bairns twice in seven days and insists the players will not be downhearted after the Montrose defeat.
He added: “We’ve come back and done really well. We’ll just look to the next game on Saturday and take it one game at a time.
“It’s a big test for us down there, but we’ll go and try get something. We know how they play, so we don’t need to be told, I suppose, but they’re going to be dying to get back on track.”