Callum Crane urges Edinburgh City to pile pressure on Cove Rangers ahead of Annan Athletic test

Callum Crane in action for Edinburgh City. The Citizens travel to face Annan Athletic this weekend

Callum Crane has challenged Edinburgh City to kick on from last weekend’s top-of-the-table triumph and crank up the pressure further on leaders Cove Rangers.

The Aberdeenshire side remain two points clear of the Ainslie Park outfit at the top of League Two, but have now been defeated their last two matches and appear to have lost their early-season air of assurance.

City head to Annan Athletic tomorrow buoyed by their hard-fought 2-1 triumph over their title rivals in the Capital last weekend.

Defender Crane is hoping they can build on the feel-good factor generated by a victory which he feels calms any notion that Cove were set to make it a one-horse title race.

“It was a massive result because if we’d lost we’d have been eight points behind them,” he said.

“We’re now only two behind so hopefully we can kick on from here. After losing 5-0 to them at the start of the season, last weekend shows the character we’ve got in our team.

"It was important to show people that there isn’t a big gulf between us and Cove. After the first game of the season, everybody was talking about ‘Cove this, Cove that’ expecting them to run away with it, but they’ve now lost to Stenhousemuir, Annan and ourselves.

"No team is going to have it all their own way in this league – it’s just about who can be the most consistent.”

Morale will be high in the City camp as they head to Galabank. Indeed, just hours after their big win in Edinburgh, the players were out in Manchester for their Christmas party, further enhancing squad camaraderie.

“The dressing-room was great afterwards – the boys were buzzing,” said Crane. “It was our Christmas night out in Manchester after that so we had a good laugh and the win helped with that. To win such a big game, it just makes it so much better because it would have taken the edge off it if we’d lost.”

City will be hoping to avoid suffering the same fate as their title rivals when they head to Annan. Two weeks ago, the league leaders were demolished 6-1 by Peter Murphy’s promotion hopefuls.

Visits to Galabank are rarely straightforward for any side. While Crane is aware Cove are stuttering at present, he insists City can’t allow their own focus to waver in light of last weekend’s exploits.

“We will be watching out for their results but we’ve just got to focus on making sure we pick up three points ourselves and not focus on them,” said the former Hibs left-back.

“This weekend we’ve got another tough game against Annan – it’s never an easy place to go.”