Cove Rangers’ long-serving midfielder Connor Scully is determined to keep the Aberdeen side in the Championship.
Their first second-tier season has been a struggle, and the Balmoral Stadium outfit currently sit at the foot of the table, two points behind Hamilton Accies, with four games left to play.
Cove host in-form Caley Thistle in their penultimate home game on Saturday.
Scully, who has been with the club since his mid-teens, admits it has been the most challenging campaign of his Cove career, having gone from the highs of winning titles to the lows of a relegation fight.
But the midfielder believes Cove must showcase the same fighting mentality which earned them several winner’s medals, despite the difference in stakes.
Scully said: “It’s been tough. At the start of the season, we wanted to have a better campaign and it’s obviously not worked out like that.
“We’ve found ourselves clambering on, but it’s our first season in the Championship.
“We had been challenging for titles for so long, but the mentality doesn’t really change if you’re at the bottom and trying to stay up – you’re still fighting for something important.
“It has just been a different situation for myself to be in.
“It’s the club’s centenary year and my testimonial year, so staying up is a big must for me and all the boys in the dressing room. It would be massive for us.”
Scully says his determination to keep Cove in the Championship is reflected across the squad, saying: “We all want the same thing – we all want to stay in the Championship.
“We know it’s going to be hard, it’s a tough league.
“We’re a part-time team and only train twice a week, but we’ve got experience and quality in the dressing room which is huge – we’ve got ex-pros and players who have played at the highest level.
“There’s no reason why we can’t do it. We’ve just got to stick together.”
Win v Caley Thistle could be pivotal moment for survival
Cove are in for a difficult afternoon when they play Caley Thistle, who are on the brink of the promotion play-off places after winning their last four Championship games.
Scully believes three points against Billy Dodds’ men would be a big statement for Cove to make in their fight to escape relegation.
He said: “Caley Thistle are a good full-time team and they’re firing on all cylinders just now, but we need to take some positivity from last week against Hamilton.
“We picked up a point – which we’ve struggled to do – and I think we played pretty well.
“A win over a team like Caley Thistle would be a turning point, but we just need a good run of results.
“We’ve been stop-start all season, we’d pick up one win and then lose a couple.
“There is four games to go and a win this weekend could really be the start of our season. We just need to win this weekend and hope things go our way elsewhere.”
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