Cove Rangers will be playing Championship football next season after Mitch Megginson’s goal against Dumbarton won the League One title.
Megginson’s 22nd goal of the season settled an edgy affair at the Balmoral Stadium and got Cove the three points they needed to get over the line.
Paul Hartley’s side had held the dominant position at the top of the division for much of the season but had pushed all the way by Airdrieonians. A 19-game unbeaten run from the Diamonds was still not enough to see them claim automatic promotion.
It continues the hugely impressive journey for Cove, who have now achieved a third promotion in four years, ahead of the five-year schedule the club’s board had set after reaching the SPFL in 2019.
Megginson, who is so often the talisman of this side, delivered the big moment, as Cove set right their play-off heartache from 12 months ago.
Cove were unchanged from the 3-0 win over Alloa Athletic the week previous. There was little need for Hartley to make any alterations now.
Neighbours Banks o’Dee are treading in the footsteps Cove once did. They ascended to the Highland League on Friday after their pyramid play-off against Fort William was cancelled, with Cove extending a helping hand by inviting members of the club into hospitality for their big day.
The home side, backed by a packed house of more than 1,600, did not come out and blow Dumbarton away. They probed and waited patiently; Fraser Fyvie whipped a free-kick into the side-netting and diverted Iain Vigurs’ free-kick into Kieran Wright’s grasp.
The Sons, knowing they had the relegation play-offs to prepare for, were offering little as an attacking threat. Wright was called into action again shortly after, smothering Mitch Megginson’s attempted shot from Mark Reynolds’ through ball.
The feeling around the ground was strange. It was not quite tense, given Cove still had the upper-hand in the division, but perhaps an impatience at wanting to have the job close to being done.
Nothing summed that up more than their chance eight minutes into the second half. Fyvie set Megginson clear but the angle was too tight to shoot after he had rounded Wright, so he rolled the ball back towards the penalty spot. Fyvie looked for all the world to finish it, only for Gregor Buchanan’s despairing block to prevent an opener.
Buchanan was to deny Fyvie again four minutes later and Megginson then skied over the bar. It had the feeling of when, not if, for Cove.
Airdieonians were comfortably dealing with Clyde, therefore a point was not going to be enough. It would still drag it into a final week.
But with 15 minutes to go and some maybe beginning to wonder if it was going to happen, the goal to bring so much joy and relief arrived.
Shay Logan slotted the ball nicely into Megginson’s path and with a couple of yards of space, he arrowed the ball back across the goalkeeper into the bottom corner.
What they had now, they could hold. There was no longer a need to chase goals. Dumbarton were not forcing the issue either.
After a season where they had proved on the field they were the best team in the division, the silverware was now going in the Balmoral trophy cabinet to confirm it.
COVE RANGERS (3-5-2) – McKenzie 6; Ross 7, Neill 6, Reynolds 6, Logan 6, Yule 7, Vigurs 6, Scully 6 (McIntosh 69), Milne 6, Fyvie 6, Megginson 7 (Masson 78). Subs not used – Gourlay, Strachan, Leitch, Adeyemo, Fotheringham, McAllister.
DUMBARTON (4-4-2) – Wright 7; Pignatiello 6, Stanger 6, Buchanan 7 (Bronsky 66), Boyle 6, Stokes 4 (Duthie 15), Paton 5, Carswell 6 (Wylde 66), Wilson 5, Oyinsan 6 (Syvertsen 66), MacLean 5 (Orsi 79). Subs not used – O’Neill, Lynch, Muir, Hutchinson.
Referee – Lorraine Watson 6.
Attendance – 1,645.
Man of the match – Blair Yule.