Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley sees Hamilton Accies’ recent run as what needs to be done to survive in the Championship.
Accies have won four of their last five games, including back-to-back wins over Caley Thistle, to give their prospects a shot in the arm.
It has made a perilous position look more salvageable but has also turned the heat up on their relegation rivals Cove and Arbroath.
The two sides drew last weekend and with Hamilton’s run of form, there are now just four points separating the bottom three.
“Hamilton are on a really good run,” said Hartley. “I knew that being in this league, you just can’t predict the score sometimes.
“You look where Hamilton were for a period of time and they’ve been on a brilliant run. That’s what you have to do to climb the league.
“I don’t think you can look at the next three or four games. It’s a mad league. We felt we could have got three points last week and we lose a last-minute goal.
“It’ll go down to the wire at both ends of the table.”
Cove head to Greenock Morton on Saturday with one win since the turn of the year and every point a prisoner heading into the final 11 games of the season.
“To string a few results together is very difficult,” added Hartley. “We go to Morton on Saturday, who had a very good performance against Dundee.
“There are still 33 points to play for and we want to try to remain where we are. If we can get a bit higher then great but it’s going to be a fight.
“Dougie has done a good job since he’s been in there. He went in and steadied the ship at a difficult time last year and look where they’re pushing now.
“It’s tough away from home but I’ve seen some good things from our team that tells me we’re getting there.”
Cove brought in eight players in January as Hartley sought to strengthen his squad for the second half of the campaign.
Changes have been made in recent games to try and find a winning formula, with limited success.
“At Dundee, the first half was good,” said Hartley. “Away to Thistle was good. I thought the first half against Arbroath was good.
“It’s a sucker-punch. It felt like a defeat for me all weekend. We’ve analysed the goal – we just didn’t do our jobs properly.”
Fraser Fyvie and Brody Paterson (both ankle) will be out long-term, while Blair Yule (heel) is still absent.
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