Jim McIntyre is remaining grounded as Cove Rangers look to put their early-season struggles in the rear-view mirror.
Cove have won back-to-back games for the first time this season and are unbeaten in four league games, taking them up to sixth in the table.
Inspired by Connor Scully’s heroics for consecutive games, there is a new-found confidence about Cove as they head into a third meeting with Raith Rovers at the weekend.
“It’s one at a time and we don’t get carried away,” said McIntyre. “Anything can happen in this league.
“The top-of-the-table team, Queen’s Park, were beaten in midweek by Morton. That can happen in the Championship so it’s important you don’t get carried away.
“Equally, you don’t get too despondent when results aren’t going your way, which we didn’t. We stuck in there, we hung in and we picked up two good results.
“That’s all it is. That’s the first-quarter by with and we can now look forward to Saturday.
“We would have been going in with decent confidence anyway having played each other already. The games have been very close – either team could have won both games – and I don’t expect anything to be different on Saturday.”
The defensive resolve in the Cove side has stood out in the last two games. Against Arbroath a new back four came together and kept a clean sheet, their first since the opening day of the season.
When the Dark Blues came to town they had to weather a storm early doors and then batten down the hatches late on, as their full-time opponents strived to find a way back into the game.
There will likely have to be one change for the trip to Kirkcaldy, with Kyle McClelland coming off for the second time in four days with an ankle problem.
“It was backs-to-the-wall for the last 10 minutes and our organisation is tested when Dundee throw on all the subs,” said McIntyre. “Some good players with good pedigree.
“We defended resolutely and we needed Kyle to make saves. He had a couple of crucial saves. Scott Ross when he came on was excellent, he showed really good aggression in winning headers and making himself as difficult as possible to get past.”
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Cove had drawn with Hamilton and Partick Thistle prior to Saturday’s win against Arbroath. They had to come from behind against Dundee but did so with no shortage of endeavour and energy.
“It was something we spoke about before – ‘go and get back-to-back wins’ – because we’d not done that,” said McIntyre. “Against one of the favourites for the league. They’re a really good side and while it wasn’t there night on Tuesday, I fully expect them to be up there challenging at the end of the season.”
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