Fraser Fyvie wants Cove Rangers to deliver a festive treat by winning tonight’s bottom-half battle with Hamilton Accies.
Cove were left smarting from their last game against the Accies, after they let a 4-1 lead slip to only take a point from their trip to New Douglas Park.
The last time relegation-threatened Hamilton visited Cove the two sides also had to share the spoils, with Jim McIntyre’s side twice having to come from behind.
The onus is also on both sides to get a result, given their respective positions in the table. Cove are four points above the relegation play-off place, while Accies are three points adrift of Arbroath at the foot of the division.
“We probably shot ourselves in the foot a bit down there. They’ll be strong, they’ll be at it. They need the points and so do we,” said Fyvie.
“It’s a game we’re looking forward to and we want to get three points at home before Christmas.
“When you’re down near the bottom, you need to focus on yourself and putting in good collective performances. But you also need to have an eye on what’s above you, which is where we want to go.
“We don’t want to keep looking back the way, but that’s where we are at the minute. There’s definitely a bit more meaning to the game.
“I was injured for the last time at Hamilton. Psychologically it was tough to take because we’d scored four goals and we dominated the majority of the game.
“But it shows if you switch off for any moment in the game, it can turn on its head. It probably gave us a lesson that we need to manage games better in the Championship, which we’ve done a bit better since.”
Late goals have largely been the undoing of Cove, with the Accies game, plus home contests against Partick Thistle and Morton, depriving them of points.
But by and large Cove have held their own at this level this season, which is their first at Championship level.
“The league speaks for itself, in terms of tallies of points,” said Fyvie. “We’re only 10 points off top. We’re not far away from fifth, sixth and seventh.
“Anybody can beat anybody and it’s been shown already. You can’t take any game for granted. You have to turn up for every game, from the off, because everybody can beat everybody in this league.”
The notion of Friday night football is also something which appeals to Fyvie.
The game had originally been pencilled in for Christmas Eve but both clubs agreed to bring the game forward to the Friday evening.
“I love it,” added Fyvie. “I think it got introduced when I was still at Aberdeen – we played a few games on a Friday. You usually get a decent crowd, particularly just before Christmas.
“Players enjoy it, fans seem to enjoy it, and it’s something different to look forward to.”
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