Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley reckons the right decision was made by the lower leagues to keep playing amid new restrictions in Scotland.
The three leagues below the Premiership voted to continue with their regular schedule, in the wake of attendances being capped at 500 with a one-metre social distance enforced.
Cove and Peterhead were among the clubs who voted in favour of still playing, with the 500 restriction a significant-but-not-fatal hit given their regular crowds.
The Aberdeen side face East Fife at the Balmoral Stadium on Boxing Day and then head to Balmoor for the derby with the Blue Toon on January 2.
“Unless it gets incredibly bad, keep playing,” said Hartley. “I’m happy to play, the players are happy to play.
“We know things can change within days, but it’s important financially for our club to have fans coming in. We cannot afford to stop.
“It’s a great period of the year – I love the Boxing Day fixtures and, even though it’s only 500, it’s still 500 fans who want to be there. If there were no fans I think it would be pointless, to be honest.
“For us it means there’s hopefully 500 Cove fans who are coming to the game on Sunday to experience it. I know what it was like for us and the players last year playing in front of no crowds, it wasn’t great.
“It’s good for people’s mental health also. It’s a period of time where they like getting out to watch football. Some of them are not going to be doing that this year in the top flight.
“In the other leagues, 500 is better than nothing.”
Another incentive for Cove to keep playing is the superb recent form they have shown.
They are unbeaten in 11 games and have not lost since they last played East Fife at New Bayview in October. Cove’s lead at the top of League One was cut to two points on Wednesday after Montrose beat Peterhead 2-0, but Hartley’s men have a game in hand.
“When you’re on a good run, you want to keep playing,” he said. “It’s a good feeling amongst the players just now. We’ve got to keep working hard and keep our foot to the ground.
“It’s a good run, but it’s a warning sign (the East Fife defeat). It’s top-versus-bottom, but you have to prepare like you do for any other game.
“We always do our work on the opposition. I know Stevie (Crawford) pretty well, he’s a former team-mate of mine and he’ll have them well-organised and fired up.
“They’re the team at the bottom trying to get off there. We’re the team at the top trying to stay there.”
Shay Logan returns from suspension and Ryan Strachan is available again after an Achilles problem. However, Iain Vigurs will miss out after sustaining an ankle injury in last weekend’s win over Alloa Athletic.