Iain Vigurs says now is the time for Cove Rangers to stand and deliver as their Championship survival hopes hang in the balance.
The 34-year-old midfielder scored a terrific free-kick to open the scoring against his former club Caley Thistle at the weekend.
For a spell on Saturday, Cove climbed above Hamilton at the foot of the table, but a Billy Mckay spot-kick and Cammy Harper’s strike earned play-off-chasing ICT a 2-1 win.
Cove are two points behind Accies, who face Inverness at New Douglas Park on Tuesday evening.
The Aberdeen side head for Arbroath this Saturday before a trip to leaders Dundee on April 28 and a home finisher against Morton on May 5.
Cove have now gone 10 fixtures without a win, with their 1-0 victory at Partick Thistle in February being their only triumph since just before Christmas.
Vigurs – ‘We can’t just go under’
However, Vigurs is not giving up the ghost and says they must show their worth at Gayfield this weekend against the Angus side, who are six points in front of them in eighth position.
He said: “We’re still in a position where we can get ourselves out of bottom place.
“But now we must start putting points on the board. It’s easy to say it – we need to put it into action.
“On Saturday, we had great shape for 60 minutes. We need to react when we concede goals. We can’t just go under.
“Unfortunately, we conceded two sloppy goals and came away with nothing.
“The effort and desire have always been there, but at the same time we need that quality.
56' | CRFC 1-0 ICTFC
VIGURSSSSS!!!#CRFCLive pic.twitter.com/1R70wJwb8i
— Cove Rangers FC (@CoveRangersFC) April 15, 2023
“We need to ensure we concentrate for 90 minutes. There is no point getting to 60 minutes and then having a lapse in concentration.
“As a team, we just need to keep going. We keep saying: ‘It’ll happen in the next game’. But it needed to happen on Saturday.
“We’ve put ourselves into great positions and again Saturday was a hard one to take – it was really frustrating.”
Cheap goals killing Cove’s chances
The manner of the Inverness goals was the most irritating aspect for Vigurs, whose goal looked to have Cove in control.
He said: “It was a sore result, but we’re conceding cheap goals.
“It would be understandable if we were making teams work for their goals, but as a team it’s just not good enough.
“We work extremely hard, and we undo all that good work that we’d put in over the first hour of the game.
“We put ourselves in a great position and then the cheap goals killed us.”
Quality still there – and needed now
Cove have injuries biting deep into their squad right now, but Vigurs says the side are still good enough to get the wins they need.
He said: “When you are down at the bottom, nothing goes for you. We still have a strong 11 we can put out – we need everyone involved.
“We have more than enough quality if we can hold it for 90 minutes to get three points.”
Cove are covering the cost of supporters’ buses to the last away games of the season.
And Vigurs insists it’s now up to the players to ensure the Cove fans have a cause to cheer by the end of the campaign.
He added: “The support is always welcome, but we need to give them something to shout about, and that means getting three points on Saturday.”
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