Cove Rangers midfielder Jamie Masson reckons they have raised their game against full-time opposition.
Cove head to Airdrie tomorrow, who operate a hybrid part-time and full-time model, with designs on getting back to winning ways.
The Balmoral Stadium men have acquitted themselves well in all their games against full-time opponents this season, even giving Premiership Hibernian a scare in the Betfred League Cup and beating Partick Thistle.
With nine men, they held Dundee to one goal for the majority of their League Cup game and were only narrowly beaten 1-0 at Falkirk last weekend.
Masson said: “You need to treat everybody the same, but you are kind of having to raise your game if you know the opponent you’re playing against is full-time.
“We’ve got a really good squad and the lads we’ve got are right up there.
“We’ve played Dundee three times (twice in pre-season) and Hibs is probably the best example. They’re a top-six Premiership side – that showed the capabilities of this side and what we can do as a squad.
“With last week the lads were disappointed, but we’ve forgotten about it. There’s a lot of points to pick up.
“Airdrie will be up there and it’ll be another tough test for the lads. But we’re looking forward to it and we’ll be ready.”
The former Aberdeen and Formartine United winger has been thrilled with how Cove have started the season, which began with four straight league wins prior to the Falkirk defeat.
He said: “It’s been unbelievable to start with, especially the home form.
“For all of us that’s important – we need to maintain that as it’ll be a big thing for us at the end of the season.”
Masson is in line for a return to the side tomorrow after sitting out the last two games.
He picked up a harsh red card in the defeat by Dundee earlier this month and watched on in the games against Forfar Athletic and Falkirk.
Masson added: “Thankfully that’s the two weeks over and hopefully I can be back in the squad for Saturday. I was at the Forfar game and it was pretty tough conditions, but the lads were saying at Falkirk they’d done well.
“Falkirk were favourites to start with, so we’ve just got to take it as it comes and get back to winning ways on Saturday.”