Cove Rangers centre back Scott Ross reckons the Highland League champions will hold their own in the SPFL.
Cove are on the cusp of making history by becoming the first club from the north league to gain Scottish League promotion through the pyramid play-off system.
The Aberdeen team holds a 4-0 lead going into Saturday’s second leg at Berwick Rangers.
Ross, 28, knows what it takes to play in a higher grade of football. He is a former Aberdeen and Peterhead player, having been at the Blue Toon Balmoor from 2011, when he left Pittodrie, until 2017 when he signed for Cove.
Ross said: “Obviously I don’t want to look too far ahead, but if we were to reach League 2 I think we would do OK.
“It kind of did surprise me a little bit that Berwick didn’t really threaten us too much in last Saturday’s first leg at our place but the likes of Ryan Strachan and myself do work so hard at the back to limit chances for opposing teams.
“It is all about making sure that we stick close to our men and be professional back there.
“Berwick Rangers have been in the Scottish League since 1954 so they will be fighting for their lives.
“I expect them to throw more boys forward next Saturday and they will probably start with a different line-up for the second leg down there and I’ve no doubt that they’ll go gung-ho in an effort to pull a goal back early on, so we need to be professional.”
Looking back on last Saturday’s impressive 4-0 home victory, Ross added: “We scored a couple of great goals.
“Mitch Megginson’s back-post header and Jamie Masson’s fourth one was a great finish. We also got a couple of scrappy ones but you’ll take that. When your luck’s in it’s
definitely in.
“Both myself and Mitch Megginson also hit the bar as well so with a little bit of luck we could have won by a few more goals on the day.
“Having our manager John Sheran at the game less than a month after he suffered a heart attack gave us all a massive boost.
“He came in to see us in the dressing-room after the game and you could see just how happy he was so we were delighted that we were able to get a result for John.”
