Harry Milne has rejected any notion the League One title is Cove Rangers’ to lose after the 1-1 draw with Airdrieonians.
Milne opened the scoring for the home side before Callum Smith’s leveller, which keeps the second-placed Diamonds seven points behind Cove.
But the wing-back pointed to the example of last season, where Falkirk were clear of the chasing pack but blew a healthy advantage before missing the play-offs entirely.
It is a helpful lesson for Cove, who still have all the other promotion-chasing sides to play again before the end of the season.
Milne said “Is it ours to lose? Not really. Last year you saw Falkirk had a pretty commanding lead – far bigger than we have – and anything can change. Games come thick and fast and in this league, anyone can take points off anyone.
“It can all change very quickly. We’re focused on the next game and by no way is it done. It was probably quite a good lesson for us last year, the way Falkirk threw it away.
“It was probably a good lesson for the chasing pack as well, because at any point it can happen.”
Milne has come to the fore with his performances in recent weeks and admits it is a much better experience, having missed the run-in last year through injury.
He added: “Last year was a bit tough for me after the surgery – I wanted to help and the squad was stretched a bit thin at the end of last season. We ran out of steam a bit.
“But we only had one player missing on Saturday and if we can keep a fully-fit squad, everyone will have a part to play.”
The point at the weekend extends Cove’s unbeaten run to 14 league games, stretching back to October, in a game where both sides had chances to claim all three points.
💬 Paul Hartley shared his thoughts following this afternoon’s draw with Airdrieonians at Balmoral Stadium
Listen here 👇 pic.twitter.com/gO5sL6dHRg
— Cove Rangers FC (@CoveRangersFC) February 5, 2022
Milne said: “We had some good chances in the first half and a couple at the start of the second, but they had chances as well. It was a good game, in spite of the wind, and at the end of the day a draw is probably fair.
“With the results elsewhere nothing has really changed. It’s all still to play for and we’ll look forward to next week.”