Rory McAllister has called on Cove Rangers to channel their SPFL Trust Trophy disappointment into a title push.
Cove are five points clear at the top of League One with nine games remaining, putting them in the box-seat to secure a third promotion in four years.
Paul Hartley’s side fell at the semi-final stage on Tuesday night, losing out to Queen of the South 1-0 at the Balmoral Stadium. It was their first defeat on home soil in 21 games, since the League Cup loss against Stirling Albion in July.
McAllister, who is Cove’s top-scorer this season with 18 goals, wants them to use the defeat as motivation to finish the job and win promotion.
He said: “We’ve got to concentrate on the last nine games. We’re in a great position and we’ve got to use this to spur us on a bit, to go win a league and get up to the Championship. Then we’ll be competing against teams of this standard, maybe slightly better, every weeks.
“If you’d offered us this position and the start of the season, we would have taken it. We’ve got to capitalise on it and go win a trophy. It’d be great for the club to get another promotion.
“I’m sure we’ll start taking chances if we create them on Saturday. Nights like that are hard to take but that’s just football.”
Cove dominated large swathes of the game against the side struggling at the bottom of the Championship.
The visitors were indebted to goalkeeper Josh Rae for making a string of important saves to keep Cove at bay.
McAllister added: “Barring the first two minutes when they scored, we battered them to say the least. We just couldn’t score. We lacked the last pass or the ball wouldn’t ricochet to us.
“They had chances later on when we were pushing for it but all in all, it’s an opportunity missed. The boys gave everything they had but it just didn’t fall for us on the night.
“They came here with a gameplan. We’ve dominated and had all the chances but they’ve put their bodies on the line, got all the blocks. It’s a frustrating night for everybody – it was a good opportunity for the players for a final, but not to be.”
Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley rues missed opportunity after defeat in SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final