Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley is determined to heed the harsh lessons which have been learned after his team came up short in their push for the play-offs.
The League One side have nothing but pride at stake in their final game of the campaign against Edinburgh City on Saturday after suffering a 2-0 defeat at Queen of the South last weekend.
Hartley is frustrated they did not take their play-off challenge to the final day – but insists lessons will be learned.
The Cove boss said: “It has been hugely frustrating, that’s for sure, but we have to look at everything and figure out what we need to do, how we can get better and improve for next season.
“That will be the task over the summer and we will need to do it quickly as the summer does not last long before we will be back at it.
“It’s not the way we wanted the season end. Last weekend was hugely disappointing.
“We wanted to take it into the last game, but it wasn’t to be.
“It probably summed up the season we’ve had in terms of our consistency levels. They haven’t been quite there – and a horrendous injury list hasn’t helped.
“You couldn’t make it up with our goalkeeper Nick Suman suffering a concussion in the warm-up last week.
“We didn’t have a lot of players on the bench as it was and we had to put Kyle Connell on, even when he was ill.”
Changes on and off the field ahead at Balmoral Stadium
Having already lost assistant Gordon Young earlier in the campaign, Hartley will bid farewell to fitness coach Tam Ritchie following Saturday’s game.
As a result, the Cove manager will need to make changes on and off the field in the close-season.
He said: “The travelling has been an issue for Gordon and Tam for five years.
“Losing Tam, somebody I’ve known for more than 20 years, is a sore one and he won’t be easy to replace.
“But that’s the task ahead. We’ll look at our playing staff and our backroom team.
“You need to evolve all the time – that’s football. There are peaks and troughs and it’s how you react.
“It’s the case that players come and go, but it won’t be to the extent we did last year.
“It was a big ask to try to settle everyone in during a short space of time last summer and it was not ideal.
“It had to be done, though, as we needed to make changes.
“Managers are all trying to bring in new players every year and we’re no different, but we won’t be looking at the turnover we had last season.”
Hartley targeting winning end to the campaign
Despite the disappointing end to the campaign, Hartley is focused on ending the season on a positive note with victory against the already-relegated Edinburgh City.
He said: “We want to win, but it will be a hard game as they are a good team. They play really good football – and the league table doesn’t reflect that.
“We want to finish on a high and we owe it to the supporters and the chairman to finish it off at home on a positive now.
“Then we need to work out how to be better and more consistent.”
Suman will miss the game due to concussion protocol, while leading scorer Rumarn Burrell faces a late fitness test.
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