The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Brown glad to address Cove bare necessities
Midfielder looking to better results as Hartley boosts squad
Jordon Brown reckons Cove Rangers will benefit from their improved strength in depth – after having a threadbare squad in the Betfred Cup.
Cove, who have taken one point from three games and cannot progress in the tournament, face Raith Rovers at Balmoral today in their final group game.
But for those three games, manager Paul Hartley has been able to name only three outfield substitutes.
However, loanees Declan Glass and Chris Antoniazzi joined from Dundee United and Aberdeen this week, while Hartley is working to add at least another two players to his squad.
Daniel Higgins, a former Dundee and Kilmarnock defender, arrived last week and debuted in the 0-0 draw with the Dark Blues.
Although he was sent off against Caley Thistle in midweek and misses out this afternoon, captain
Mitch Megginson’s return from a thigh injury also hands the Aberdeen side a much-needed boost.
Brown said: “These boys are all coming from fulltime football and we’ve not had that type of player in the last couple of seasons. Declan was brilliant on Tuesday night and gave us something different.
“It’s competition for places and with a bit more attention on us being the new team in the league, hopefully they see the facilities are there for them to improve. It’s a great place for them to develop.
“There’s Ryan Strachan, Scott Ross, Darryn Kelly, Jamie Redman and Grant Campbell to add to the squad as well, which brings competition for places.”
Ross was suspended for the game against Caley Thistle, Kelly was on holiday while Strachan, Redman and Campbell sat out through injury.
Connor Scully was stretchered off in Inverness but only sustained bruising to his ankle ligaments, which could make him available for the start of the league campaign.
Cove have performed admirably in all three games so far, taking Dundee to penalties while losing out by the odd goal to both Peterhead and the Caley Jags. With their final game against another higher-ranked team, Brown feels their results have not matched their performances.
He added: “The boys were brilliant against Inverness – just like they were against Dundee the week before. We’ve just not quite got the results. The gap is a lot closer than people think between the three divisions.
“I was injured when we played Raith last year but they had a good result against Peterhead.
“We haven’t had the results we wanted, in the sense that we want to win every game but get a good result and it stands us in good stead for the season.”