Charlie Christie – Cove Rangers rise reminiscent of Caley Thistle coming through the leagues
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Huge congratulations to Cove Rangers on clinching the Scottish League One title.
With a goal difference of plus 40 having lost only three league matches all season, nobody can question the merit of Paul Hartley’s side’s title triumph and they can now look forward to Championship football next season.
I was at Inverness Thistle when Cove entered the Highland League in 1986 and many thought the long-established junior side would become a powerful force in the League given their backing and potential player recruitment streams.
However, it wasn’t until 2001 that Cove actually achieved that elusive first Highland League title.
They added six more titles to their honours list before their entry into the Scottish leagues in 2019.
Cove then gained immediate promotion during the Covid hit season of 2019/20 having been 13 points clear at the top when the season was cut short.
They went on to perform admirably in their first season in League One to finish third before only just losing out to Airdrie in the play-offs.
Their rise to the Championship in only three seasons has been fantastic and it is reminiscent to what we achieved in Inverness although it did take us five years to achieve Championship status.
They have gained promotions with a squad littered with former Highland League players and it was fitting Mitch Megginson scored the goal that confirmed their title victory.
I played against Mitch’s father Mike who was a very talented player at Cove himself and he would have beenma proud man indeed last weekend. It is always great to see the former Highland League clubs performing well on the national stage given the generations we were denied league football
Whether ICT will be lining up against Cove on league duty next season is still in the balance.
“We have promotion in our sights ourselves as we prepare to take on Partick Thistle over two legs before the winners face off against Dick Campbell’s Arbroath.
Our position directly above them in the league means we play the second leg at the Caledonian Stadium.
The good thing is we are in the mix, and it gives our fans a deserved boost to witness that ‘big-game’ feel on Friday, May 6
No team has ever achieved promotion to the Premiership from third or fourth position in the Championship and the volume and intensity of the matches is not conducive to doing so.
But Caley Thistle are a club who thrive in upsetting the odds and allied to Cove’s success, it would make for a fine Highland summer if we could do the unthinkable!
