The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Petrie wants repeat of capital showing at home
Montrose boss Stewart Petrie is looking for his side to start the second quarter in the same way they began the first – by beating Edinburgh City, writes Neil Robertson.
The Gable Endies opened their League 2 campaign with a 3-1 win in the capital back in August.
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then.
Edinburgh parted company with boss Gary Jardine at the start of this month and James Mcdonaugh is now in charge.
City still sit second bottom of the table while Montrose are second top after their narrow 1-0 win at Berwick last Saturday but Petrie is expecting nothing other than a difficult contest at Links Park this afternoon.
He said: “I thought we played some good controlled stuff last week and looked really comfortable at the back.
“Credit to Berwick they came out at us a little bit in the second half.
“We never really got going and it was a bit of a scrappy game. The conditions weren’t great as the pitch was heavy and it was windy but ultimately it was a fantastic result for us.
“Berwick is a hard place to go so you are going to come away happy with any positive result.
“Sometimes you just have to grind out a result and manage the game. I thought the guys did that in the second half.
“Albeit it was only 1-0 so it is never comfortable but we certainly defended very well and the guys deserved their clean sheet.
“So there were plenty of positives to take into this weekend’s game against Edinburgh.
“They have changed manager recently so they will have picked up a bit.
“Gary did an excellent job to get them into the league and then keep them there.
“They have some dangerous players like Josh Walker, Marc Laird and Craig Beattie to mention just a few.
“So we are under no illusions. The games we have played against them last season and this season already have never been easy.
“However, we are at home so we will try to be positive and on the front foot.
“We will take the game to them. We always want to do well but especially in home games.”
Petrie admitted he is pleased to have finished the first quarter second top of the table but he insists no-one at the club is resting on their laurels.
The manager added: “We have made a good start but there is certainly room for improvement, there is no question of that.
“Now we have seen everybody once, we have an idea of teams.
“The first quarter is always a bit of a guessing game as you are never sure how teams are going to line up and play.
“But now that we have had a look at everybody else we will probably sit down with the rest of the staff and assess where we’re at and what we maybe need to do for the second quarter then look to build on that.”