Blair Yule has seen Cove Rangers hit new heights year on year. But this time around, success will look a little different.
From the days in the Highland League to the three seasons in the SPFL, Cove are used to challenging for promotions and titles.
This campaign has been a little different. Cove are no longer among the favourites, instead carrying the banner as one of two part-time clubs in the Championship.
Results have reflected that status. Full-time teams were in the minority last season, now they make up most of the second tier.
Cove and Arbroath are probably where people expect them to be: fighting not to be in the bottom two places. For Cove, wins against Dundee and the Red Lichties were followed up with defeats against Raith and Caley Thistle.
Being as consistent as they have been in years gone by is even more challenging.
“It probably has come to a shock to a few of us, as we’re used to winning, having a lot of the ball and being dominant over teams,” said Yule. “We’ve not really had many games like that.
“It’s been a change of mindset that we can’t have it all our own way. Sometimes we’ll need to sit in and soak up some pressure. But I feel over the last few weeks we’ve started to show what we’ve done previously.
“We’ve worked hard to get here. We don’t want to have one season of struggle and give up on a lot of years of hard work. At minimum this year, we want to consolidate our place.
“It’s a big learning curve for the club, getting used to everything that’s different about the Championship. We’re enjoying the ride at the minute and we’re trying our best to stick around.
“The biggest difference I’ve noticed is how other teams shape up defensively. They’re really well-organised and it’s harder to play through teams, like maybe we’ve been used to in recent years.
“There’s so many full-time teams in the Championship, you don’t get much of a respite as a part-time team.
“We’re happy with how we’re progressing; we had a difficult start to the season – after the Raith game – but our performances have improved and we just need to match that with a few more points on the board.”
The 2-2 draw with Ayr United last weekend showed signs of promise. Cove had been outplayed in the reverse fixtures in Aberdeen and the 2-1 scoreline did not reflect Ayr’s dominance.
But in a blood-and-thunder affair, which manager Jim McIntyre likened to a basketball game, they held their ground.
“It was an enjoyable game to play in,” added Yule. “We were quite happy with how we did.
“I was still tired on Monday after it. It took a lot out of us and I’m assuming their players as well.
“Those games are enjoyable because they’re so action-packed.”
Yule has been a midfield partner to Connor Scully at Cove for the majority of his career. Scully scored his sixth goal of the season against Ayr, but even Yule has not seen anything like the Cove favourite’s run of form.
“It’s a long time since I’ve seen him score goals like this,” he said. “Back in the Highland League days, when we were both starting out, he was prolific.
“He doesn’t even do it at training, so I don’t know where it’s come from.
“Both of his goals against Dundee were ridiculous, but his back-post tap-in last Saturday was just as important.
“It doesn’t happen very often for me, but I’m getting closer. I don’t know if I can pull anything acrobatic out of the locker – but I might have to give it a try.”
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