Long-serving Cove Rangers midfielder Connor Scully says his side must cut out errors which are leaving them fighting uphill battles in League One.
The Balmoral Stadium side are unbeaten in their last three league matches – all of which ended in 2-2 draws where Cove had to come from behind to claim a point.
In their last two matches against Edinburgh City and Stirling Albion, Paul Hartley’s men have netted last-minute equalisers, with Scully scoring the leveller in the 92nd minute at Forthbank last weekend.
And while Scully is pleased his side have not lost those games, he says Cove must stop making life difficult for themselves.
Cove host Annan Atheltic, who sit one place and one point ahead of the Aberdeen side in eighth with eight points, at Balmoral Stadium on Saturday.
Scully said: “We’re not giving ourselves a chance in the games. We’re going a goal down and obviously when that happens you’re then having to scrap and fight to get back a goal back.
“The only game, I think, this season that we’ve played well, predominantly, and kept a clean sheet was against Montrose (a 3-0 win).
“It has been an uphill battle and we never seem to help ourselves. That is probably one of the main things we need to improve on.
“We need to shut the back door. When we go a goal down, it seems to be really hard for us to get back into the game, but in the last few games we have shown the grit and the courage to get a point.
“We just need to cut out those defensive and all-round mistakes and we will end up picking up more points.
“We’ve not lost in three, so we’ll look to continue that this weekend at home because we need to make sure we’re getting the three points there and making it a fortress again.”
Win over Annan could be catalyst for improved form, says Scully
Although it has been a difficult start to the season – with the Annan clash the final game of the first quarter of league fixtures – Scully has backed Cove to go on a run of form and climb the table.
A win over the Black and Golds would move Hartley’s men onto 10 points and potentially up to sixth in the league, if other results go their way.
Scully said: “If you look at the season when we won League One, we went 25 games unbeaten after having quite a rough start.
“We always seem to have a rough start and then things pick up. We’re more than capable of doing it and I know the guys here have got enough heart and determination to do that.
“We’re on a run of three games now without a defeat, so if we can get a good win on Saturday then, hopefully, we can go on a good run and get more points on the board.”
Scully opened his account for the season in last weekend’s draw with Stirling Albion, and he hopes to contribute with more goals over the course of the campaign.
He said: “I had been waiting for that goal for a while. Last season I got eight in all competitions, so I’d like to try and look to get double figures this season.
“I’ve been playing more defensively, but I’m still wanting to make those runs forward. Luckily, one of them came off last weekend and it was a really good ball from Fraser (Fyvie).”
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