Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley insists his side must believe they can end Falkirk’s unbeaten league campaign tonight.
The Bairns have not tasted defeat in 19 matches thanks to a run of 15 wins and four draws.
But they face a Cove side also in fine form, and Hartley insists his side will go to Falkirk Stadium tonight with confidence.
The Cove manager said: “We’re facing the league leaders, a team in tremendous form who have home advantage.
“But we have to go there with confidence knowing we’re also in good form and have been for a number of months.
“Falkirk are on an unbelievable run and to reach this point without losing is very good, but from the turnaround we’ve had, we have put a great run of our own together.
“We’re in there with one defeat in 14 games, which is a really good run of games.”
Cove came so close to beating the Bairns last time out
Falkirk’s unbeaten would have been stopped months ago had Jordan Allan not netted an equaliser for the Bairns in the sixth minute of stoppage time at Balmoral Stadium when they last faced Cove on August 12.
Hartley said: “It was a good game at our place. We didn’t have our squad together at that point, but we showed we can perform on our day.
“We’ve done that against the top two this season already. We conceded the equaliser with the last kick of the ball, which was hard to take.
“We have to make sure our discipline is right and that we’re fully concentrated.”
“Clearly we have to defend better than we did on Saturday’
The Cove manager is also looking for an improvement following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Kelty Hearts.
Hartley was frustrated at seeing his side let a two-goal lead slip and insists there can be no repeat against the Bairns.
He said: “They’ve got good players in the attacking areas and we have to defend better than we did on Saturday, that’s for sure, while making sure we’re an attacking threat ourselves.
“It was a tale of two halves for us. We had a really good first half and even in the second half we had really good chances, but we lost really poor goals.
“We spoke at half-time about making sure we start the second half well, but we gifted a goal a couple of minutes into it.
“It was sloppy goals from us and really disappointing considering our first half play and goals. We switched off.
“Falkirk haven’t tasted defeat, so we have to go there knowing we need to perform at a certain level if we are to get a result.”
Cove on course for play-offs
With an eight-point lead on second-placed Hamilton and a 16-point advantage on his third-placed side, Hartley knows Falkirk are firmly in the driving seat at the top of League One.
But the Cove manager believes his club is firmly on track to secure a play-off berth after building momentum in the last three months.
He said: “If it was the start of the season and we were talking about where we’d want to finish, then in the top four would be the answer as that would give us an opportunity of promotion.
“We’re on course to do that.”
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