Cove Rangers’ recent woes continued as they were comfortably beaten 2-0 on home soil by promotion hopefuls Dundee.
Goals from Lyall Cameron and Lee Ashcroft either side of half-time was enough for the visitors, with Cove fairly low-key in attack.
With Hamilton and Arbroath drawing on Friday night, there are now just two points separating the bottom three in the Championship.
Cove rode their luck at times in the first half, with Mark Reynolds slicing a Cameron cross in front of his own goal while Jordan McGhee headed over in front of goal.
McGhee again should have done better with a headed chance as he met Luke Hannant’s cross but sent the ball straight at Scott Fox. The Cove stopper was up to block Paul McMullan’s rebound.
Dundee did take the lead just before the interval as Cameron went for goal from 20 yards, with his shot taking a deflection and wrong-footing Scott Fox on its way into the net.
The visitors went two ahead before the hour as skipper Ashcroft was picked out by Hannant and he crashed the ball home from 12 yards.
Substitute Josh Mulligan flashed a shot narrowly wide of the far post as Dundee sought to wrap up the points in style.
Tony Weston curled an attempt past the far post with five minutes to go but there was little to shout about from a Cove perspective.
Cove offering little in attack
You would have to go back a while to find a Cove team that struggles to score goals.
But at the moment, there is no cohesion or fluidity to them going forward.
Mitch Megginson not getting as many goals as he has in years past could be one factor but they cannot rely on just one player to carry the can.
Leighton McIntosh has chipped in with some key goals but as the lone striker here, he struggled to get into goalscoring positions and was forced away from goal to hold up the ball.
The players around him were not asking too many questions of the Dundee defence either and when a team is finding it hard to score, while letting goals in at the other end, it is a dangerous recipe.
Positive impact from Longridge
Cove have struggled to fill the left-back void all season.
The departure of Harry Milne to Partick Thistle last summer was always going to prove tricky. He fit the way Hartley wants to play so well.
So far this campaign they have tried Evan Towler, Connor Scully, Shay Logan, Brody Paterson and Cieran Dunne at left-back, with limited success.
Paterson’s injury necessitated the arrival of Jackson Longridge from Livingston and at 27, with Premiership experience under his belt, he has the pedigree required.
He carried out his defensive duties diligently but also showed a willingness to get forward and provide an attacking outlet down the left.
His performance was one of few bright spots on a poor afternoon for Cove.
Familiar faces sat in the stands
Megginson, Blair Yule, Connor Scully and Fraser Fyvie were on Cove’s list of absentees for this game.
All four have been instrumental in getting Cove to this point in their history but injuries ruled them out of a key fixture in their season.
Fyvie is done for the season, while Yule and Scully look set for a fortnight on the sidelines, with heel and knee injuries respectively.
Megginson failed a fitness and it left the team with a very unfamiliar look. Seven of the starting 11 have been recruited this season and six of them since January.
Trying to gel a team when you need to get results is a far from easy task, as Cove have proven.
Player ratings
COVE RANGERS (4-2-3-1) – Fox 5; Naismith 5, Neill 5, Reynolds 5, Longridge 6, Bangala 5 (Virtanen 80), Vigurs 6, Longstaff 5 (Weston 80), Touré 5 (Dunne 64), O’Halloran 5, McIntosh 5. Subs not used – Gourlay, Logan, Ross, Dunne, Glass.
DUNDEE (4-2-3-1) – Legzdins 6; Fisher 6, Sweeney 6, Ashcroft 6, Clampin 6 (Marshall 66), McGhee 6, Williamson 6 (Anderson 81), McMullan 6, Cameron 7 (Mulligan 66), Hannant 7 (McCowan 81), Robinson 5 (Jakubiak 66). Subs not used – Sharp, Byrne, Robertson.
Referee – Calum Scott 5.
Attendance – 1,561.
Star man
Luke Hannant – A regular threat down the Dundee left and was a creative force in the final third.
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