Mariners sink local rivals Dunipace in cup clash

Saturday’s win at home was the first of the campaign for the Mariners, after they lost their opening two league matches in the first division.

A double from forward Joe Bevan, a strike from Kieran Anderson and a stunning free-kick from Mitchell Taylor sealed progression to the next round, with Marty Wright’s late goal for the Pace only a consolation.

Speaking to the Herald, former Berwick Rangers boss Harvey praised his players for believing in themselves.

"Outwith our group not many people saw this result coming,” he said. “Week in, week out our performances have been better than the results suggest on paper.

"Results breed confidence and when you win as little as we have for such a long period – it can be hard to lift a group.

"But they really proved people wrong on Saturday and that was without seven players who were out injured.

"Getting the first goal helped us and we grew from that moment.”

He was also pleased with the contribution of his strikers, with each goal a superb finish that left goalkeeper David Kane with no chance.

Harvey added: “All the forward players were right on it. It is great to have options again now too.

“Kieran Anderson was out last season and he was a big miss.

“Joe Bevan is also a player with real quality and he is finding his feet now.

“We looked a threat every time we went forward and we created so many chances.

“Even at the back we were solid and we kept Dunipace reasonably quiet.

“The whole team performed well and I would struggle to pick out one player.”

The Mariners boss now wants his side to build some sort of momentum going back into the league campaign.

Last season, the Camelon club dropped out of the premier division after a dismal season saw them finish rock bottom.

This time around, they are still finding their feet in what is a competitive second tier.

"By the time you get to the fourth game of the season, you want to have at least a few points on the board,” Harvey said. “We aren’t getting carried away with one result, just like we haven’t got too downhearted after the bad ones.

"The performances so far have been decent but we want to go on some sort of prolonged run.

"If we want to challenge at the top end of this league, which will be really difficult, we need to win most weekends.

"What I have here now is a squad that I think is capable of that, we have some experience now across the team and we have some players back who didn’t feature at all last season.”

Camelon face a trip to fellow recently-relegated side Newtongrange Star this Saturday.

Harvey said: “Of course, they dropped down with us last year but that means nothing now. We know what threats they will pose.”