For two weeks running now, Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley has seen his side score crucial late goals which may affect the outcome of their season.
After Fraser Fyvie’s thunderbolt earned them a point at Airdrieonians eight days’ previous, they again snatched a draw at the death when it looked like they were heading for defeat against Queen’s Park yesterday.
Bob McHugh’s wonder-strike eight minutes into the second half – the former Motherwell striker found the top corner from 30 yards – looked to have earned the Spiders all three points.
But it was Leighton McIntosh’s turn to be the hero this week as he glanced the ball in deep into stoppage-time to earn Cove a point.
“It’s in our make-up not to give up,” Hartley said. “It would be disappointing if we did.
“We keep throwing bodies forward and get it into the box. Last week we score a great goal, this one was more of a scrappy one. But we’ll take it.
“It’s another vital point. We were going into next week two points ahead. We’re now going in three ahead and we’ve got a really good goal difference.
“It’s exciting for everybody and it’s where we want to be, up the top end challenging, rather than the bottom end fighting for our lives. We’re fighting for the title with Airdrie and we’ll fight right to the end.”
Cove have made a habit of getting late goals this season. It is not just something which has cropped up in the last two weeks.
They beat Airdrieonians in September and Peterhead in January with late winners, while they also came from two down against Alloa to get a draw in February.
“It tells me we’ve got good players with a good mentality,” said Hartley. “We had to rejig the team then got an injury early in the game to our captain.
“We won’t make any excuses. We had to keep going and keep fighting. We knew this would be a tricky game for us – this is our third game difficult on the road and we’re undefeated in that spell.”
Airdrieonians had cut the gap at the top to two points, having beaten East Fife on Saturday, and the point gained on a terrible surface at Firhill could well prove crucial come the end of the season.
Cove are on the road for the fourth game in a row next weekend against Falkirk, with the Diamonds at Links Park to face Montrose.
“We were resilient,” Hartley added. “It wasn’t a classic game – the pitch doesn’t allow it. We didn’t really get going until the last period of the game, but we’ve got a good mentality in the group.
“It wasn’t a game that was littered with chances. It was a game that was back to front, second balls. It was never going to be a pretty going.
“You can’t play through the thirds on that. If you think you can, you’re going to get caught. Make a mistake in the final third, not your own.
“We worked on it during the week, getting it forward early and getting runners in behind. A point is better nothing – if you don’t win the game, make sure you don’t lose.”
Mitch Megginson came off early in the game with a groin injury which will be assessed, while Harry Milne and Iain Vigurs missed the game through injury and illness respectively.