Montrose boss Stewart Petrie admits he has to pinch himself at times when he realises that his team are potentially just four games away from winning promotion to the Championship.
The Gable Endies place in the play-offs was secured last week despite their defeat at Forfar with the achievement all the more remarkable considering this is the Angus club’s first season in League 1 since coming up last summer.
Montrose will now play the team who finish ninth in the Championship with the first leg taking place at Links Park on Tuesday.
Who their opponents will be is very much up in the air with Partick Thistle, Queen of the South, Alloa and Falkirk all in the mix.
However, before that, Montrose finish the regular season at home to Raith Rovers and while there is little at stake for either side, it is still a game Petrie is determined to win.
The manager said: “It’s great considering where we have come from.
“It is a superb achievement for the supporters and the board. You have to pinch yourself at times that you are in the play-offs and four games away from the Championship, albeit we are massive underdogs.
“There is no doubt about that regardless of who we play on Tuesday.
“But we will try to savour every minute of it as they don’t come round very often.
“We are under no pressure. It is probably a position we didn’t expect to be in.
“So hopefully we can enjoy it and give a good account of ourselves – that’s all you can ask for.
“We want to be in the tie on the Saturday going away from home.”
Petrie admitted that he would make changes for the game against Rovers.
He added: “It will be nice to relax on Saturday and enjoy the game but we will also be going to try to win it, that’s for sure.
“We will freshen up as best we can and get players rested.
“The first play-off game comes on Tuesday, so it is a very quick turnaround for us.
“We do have options. For instance, we had Sean Dillon, Paul Watson and Michael Bolochoweckyj on the bench last Saturday.
“They are obviously good players who have made a massive contribution along with others who were on the bench.
“So some lads will be getting game time to try to have everybody as ready as we can.
“We will need the whole squad going into these play-offs.
“We will try to conserve as much energy as we can because if we come up against a full-time club the two games over four days will be difficult.”
Long-term injured Craig Johnston, Matty Allan and Martyn Fotheringham will miss the game.
