Paul Hartley will let everyone else at Cove Rangers start to get carried away. He and the players still have a job to do.
Cove are on the brink of the League One title and promotion to the Championship. Victory over Dumbarton tomorrow afternoon in front of their own supporters will mean the job is done.
But Hartley will not be deviating from what he has done for the last three years since taking charge. The excitement and expectancy come with the success they have achieved but the gameplan for Cove will not charge.
“We can’t lose track or focus,” said Hartley, who is chasing his fourth league title as a manager. “We’ve still got to go and perform.
“It would be nice to get the rewards for what we’ve done and how we’ve performed this year. But I don’t like getting too carried away or looking too far ahead.
“Everyone else can get carried away – the players have to remain focused. We can show how good a team we are and get the result.
“There’s not much of a team-talk, in terms of motivation. All the motivation is there. The message has been the same for three years and nothing changes. We can’t treat it as a special game.
“We’ve been through 34 games and we know what’s in front of us on Saturday.”
I’m not coming up to sit back
Dumbarton were confirmed in the relegation play-offs last week after their defeat against Airdrieonians and may have an eye on that in the next fortnight.
“They know where they are and I’ll expect them to come up here and put up a stern fight,” said Hartley. “They know they’re in the play-offs, but will still want the players to keep themselves as sharp as they can.
“They ran Airdrie close last weekend, so we won’t be kidded. If I’m the opposition manager, I’m not coming up to sit back and let Cove celebrate.
“I don’t think Stevie Farrell will do that. They won’t roll over.”
Cove this week had three players nominated for League One player of the year, Harry Milne, Mitch Megginson and Rory McAllister.
Megginson said yesterday it meant more to be nominated alongside two of his team-mates and Hartley reckons it is great recognition for the club.
“It’s really nice and rewarding for how they’ve done this season,” he said. “Getting recognition from your fellow peers that you’ve had a good season and that you’re a good player.
“It’s good recognition for them and the club and it will be good if one of the players can pick it up on May 1.”
McAllister sat out the win over Alloa Athletic last weekend with a calf problem and will be 50-50 as to whether he can feature tomorrow.
“I’d say at this point it would be doubtful,” added Hartley. “He did a bit of running on Tuesday. We’ll give him every possibility to make himself available.”
Ryan Strachan is definitely out with the recurrence of an Achilles problem.