Cove Rangers captain Mitch Megginson has backed his side to bounce back from being relegated from the Championship.
The Balmoral Stadium outfit’s debut season in the second tier ended in bitter disappointment as they were relegated on the final day of the campaign.
Cove went into Friday night with a chance to escape the drop entirely, but a 2-1 defeat to 10-man Greenock Morton and Hamilton Accies’ stalemate with Arbroath meant Paul Hartley’s men finished bottom with 31 points.
Megginson has been with the club through all its highs – two title wins and two promotions since coming into the SPFL pyramid – and now its most recent low.
He says relegation from the Championship after only one season is a “sore one to take” but believes Cove will come back stronger.
The captain said: “The drive is there from the chairman (Keith Moorhouse), the gaffer and myself as well.
“I’ve been here with the good times, but we’ve got to take this (relegation) on the chin as a low.
“For everyone, it will be a learning curve. It’s not something we’ve endured before.
“We’ve got to go win League One again and come back to the Championship better for it.
“In terms of how quickly we’ve progressed – we’ve won League Two, we’ve won League One – the Championship was always going to be a tough ask.
“We should have given ourselves a better chance – at least in the play-offs – but we’ve not done that, so we have to take it on the chin and focus on next season now.”
Megginson bemoans lack of quality over Championship campaign
Following the 2-1 defeat to Morton, Megginson reiterated his manger’s thoughts by saying their entire Championship campaign fell below the required standard.
Megginson said: “It’s been the story of our season – we were comfortable against Morton and had plenty chances to see it off, but we didn’t do that.
“And we have not done that all season. We haven’t been good enough defensively or in attack and in this league you get punished for that.
“It’s just been the kind of season where it’s been indifferent in terms of the way we’ve played. This (Balmoral Stadium) used to be a fortress, but that’s not been the case this season.
“We had two good results (before Morton) which gave us a chance and we should’ve taken at least a draw from that, but we haven’t and we’ve been punished.”
Having been relegated on goal-difference after finishing level on points with 11th-placed Accies, Megginson believes it epitomises the harsh reality of Cove’s Championship struggles.
He said: “It’s not nice, but it sums up where we’re at. We didn’t score enough goals and conceded too many.
“We used to be a decent team at both ends, but that hasn’t been the case this season.
“This hurts and it’s going to hurt until we start kicking the ball again in the summer.”
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