Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley hailed his side’s grit and determination as they dug deep to beat Montrose 1-0 at Balmoral Stadium.
Rumarn Burrell’s ninth goal of the season gave Cove their fifth straight win and extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.
It was a night where Cove had to dig deep but Hartley was full of praise for the resilience shown by his players.
The Cove manager said: “We can play a lot better than that. We didn’t pass the ball well enough but we were resilient to grind a result out and it showed a different side to us.
“We know we can play better but football is about winning sometimes so to make it five wins in a row and keep four clean sheets is pleasing.”
Burrell capped a fine display with the only goal of the game and Hartley believes the former Falkirk striker will have a big role to play for the club this season.
Hartley said: “He probably scored more but it was a good striker’s goal tonight.
“Rumarn’s got a lot of quality but he just needs to believe in himself a little bit more.
“He just has to keep working hard as he has natural ability and there’s a lot more to come from him.”
Burrell’s goal was enough to give Cove victory but the win also made it four straight clean sheets for Hartley’s side and the manager is pleased to see his side gelling after a slow start.
He said: “It was a tough start and everybody was negative towards us but we believed in what we were doing.
“We know how we want to play but we had to find a different way to win and we managed to do that against Montrose.
“We defended the box well, cleared our lines when we had to and stood up to Montrose’s height.”
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