Jamie Masson and Harry Milne worked together with great success at Cove Rangers. But the tables will be turned on Saturday.
Milne spent most of his career with Cove and helped them to three promotions during his time at the Balmoral Stadium, before joining tomorrow’s opponents Partick Thistle in the summer.
The left-back has immediately made himself a regular with the high-flying Jags and won the club’s player of the month award for July.
Masson had no doubts of Milne’s ability to step up to full-time football, but will put all pleasantries on hold as Cove push for much-needed points.
“A lot of the boys still speak to Harry,” said Masson. “He’s been doing well and we all keep tabs on him.
“We all knew he was at that age, when he had a degree behind him, where he could make the step up – I watched the Friday night game (against Caley Thistle) and he was excellent.
“In his last year he did well and got noticed. He took the step up.
“He’s a great defender but the power he has up and down the flank was great to see. Training every day will make him even better.
“But we’ll be going after him on Saturday and everything else will be forgotten about.
“All that goes out of the window until after the game.”
While Milne has forced himself into a starting role with his new club, Masson has been in and out of the Cove side so far this season.
He marked his entrance into the Hamilton game spectacularly a fortnight ago, netting from 25 yards after 30 seconds on the field.
The target now for the former Aberdeen youngster is getting a run of games under Jim McIntyre.
“The gaffer has said before that it’s a squad game and if you’re left out, you need to keep chapping at the door to start,” Masson said.
“I don’t mind playing across the midfield, but I had my best season playing from the left. It’s up to the gaffer, but I just need to perform the best I can.
“You want to be playing every week. You work through the week and want to be playing on a Saturday.
“But you need to work hard on Tuesday and Thursday to get in – it’s not a case of just being put in the team.”
Cove have not won in five games, but the draw against Hamilton stopped the rot. The Aberdeen side are still second-bottom and Masson is aware of the challenge they are facing.
“We weren’t daft enough to say we were coming into the league and were just going to doing what we’d been doing,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a hard challenge and we’re trying to enjoy it.
“The run we’ve been on in the last five years is quite incredible. You’ve got to enjoy it while trying to take points.”
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