Paul Hartley wants Cove Rangers to find goals from other areas of the pitch – to take the burden off their strikers.
While Cove strike pair Rory McAllister and Mitch Megginson have been clinical in front of goal this season, Hartley is wary of becoming over-reliant on the two of them.
McAllister has 11 goals in all competitions, with nine in League One. Megginson has seven to his name and only two other players – Robbie Leitch and Fraser Fyvie – have scored twice.
Jamie Masson opened his account for the season in the 4-1 win over Albion Rovers last weekend and was a prolific scorer in Cove’s League Two-winning campaign in 2019-20.
Hartley is keen for others to step up and help McAllister and Megginson in the scoring stakes.
He said: “I still think we can get more from the middle of the pitch – we would like to get some more goals.
“We’re heavily reliant on the two strikers to score every week. At some point they may go through a dry spell, so we’ve got to have options in different areas of the pitch to score.
“I would like us to get more opportunities from the middle of the pitch, get in the box a bit more. We’ve worked on that and set-plays are a big thing for us.
“You can’t keep relying on the strikers all the way through the season. They’re playing well but you’ve got to have everybody else chipping in.”
Jevan Anderson returned to the bench last weekend after an ankle problem while Ryan Strachan, who has had a disrupted start to the campaign, trained during the week after an Achilles issue.
Hartley added: “Jevan still needs a bit of conditioning work to get him back.
“Ryan trained on Thursday night. His Achilles was sore last week after a session so we’ll see how he is. Hopefully he’s OK.
“It’s may be the first time we’ve had a full squad to choose from. There’s good options there.”
Bottom-side East Fife are the opponents at New Bayview this afternoon and Hartley will not let his Cove charges take them lightly.
He said: “We don’t underestimate anyone. East Fife have not had the greatest start but they’re a dangerous team.
“They took the lead against Falkirk and were really unlucky in that game. We’ve got to go there with the right attitude.
“We always respect our opponents. We’ve got to make sure we keep working hard and the players have a strong mentality.”