A game Cove had to win to come off the bottom and Montrose wanted to win to go joint top. Montrose had Gardyne back in midfield and for Cove they had Megginson back in a striking role. Referee was Duncan Nicolson on a dry sunny day with a moderate wind.

Montrose lined up with two up front, Hester and Lyons and Masson lined up as an attacking midfielder but soon dropped back as Cove controlled midfield.  

Cove started brightly and almost scored with the first real attack following a misplaced pass by Montrose but the ball was hacked away and the Mo got away with it.

At the other end Hester put Lyons through but the pass was overhit. Hester had a shot from 35 yards from a free kick but it sailed over the top. That was it from a Montrose point of view for quite a while as Cove moved the ball well through midfield and down both wings.

Masson was yellow carded. Cove had a penalty appeal turned down then had three corners in quick succession but the Mo defence was solid at that point even though they had no threat up top.

On 25 minutes Williamson ploughed through but there were no takers for the cross. Williamson exchanged passes with Machado but again there were no takers for a cross and the defenders cleared easily.

At that point Montrose had no shots on goal but on 39 minutes Hester was fouled in the area and Montrose were awarded a penalty. Craig Brown took it but it was not hit hard and keeper Suman pushed it away for a corner which came to nothing. Just before half-time Montrose appeared to be pressing a bit more but it stayed goal-less at the break.

Into the second half with Blair McKenzie and Sean Dillon on for Machado and Hannah to try to get more punch in midfield with Williamson moving forward more. 

Neither side looked like scoring but a mistake at the back could happen and it did on 49 minutes as a Montrose midfielder slipped and let his man Blair Yule clean through. He fed Mich Megginson who rounded keeper Gill and side footed it home to make it 1-0 to Cove.

The home side did not sit back on that goal but pressed for a second as Montrose passed from side to side and with long balls to the front two without success.

MacIver-Redwood came on for Lyons on 59 minutes and Quinn was replaced by Shrive as Montrose tried hard to pull the game their way but Cove did their job well.

Darge was yellow carded on 60 minutes as Montrose had three corners which came to nothing and Cove had two corners which Gill dealt with. Masson was replaced by young Keir Bertie on 76 minutes and for Cove McGrath replaced Megginson. More corners for each side, Gillingham was yellow carded and the free kick for the Mo on 20 yards central was deflected for a corner which came to nothing. The final bit of action saw Bertie yellow carded as Cove ran out 1-0 winners and on the balance of play probably deserved their first win of the season.

The Montrose management team will go into the next game no doubt with changes for a cup game to try and get back into a goal scoring habit which was sadly lacking at Cove.

Report by Steve Doyle

Pic courtesy of Cove Rangers

Post match reaction https://youtu.be/DCoGmaDrARo?si=4-nzAVPCLuBhuVbS