Midfielder Daniel Moore is baffled by Elgin City’s loss of form at a pivotal time in the League 2 promotion fight.
The former Ross County player has been in and out of favour as a starter in manager Jim Weir’s plans during the latter part of the season.
For an eighth match running, City failed to grasp the three points. They still have considerable work to do to cement a play-off spot after five draws and three defeats on the trot since winning at Berwick in late February.
Weir’s side did move above Annan into third place on goal difference, but sits only four points above fifth-placed Stirling Albion and sixth-placed Montrose with four games to play.
The 1-1 draw with Montrose means Elgin have also shared their last four outings at their normally productive Borough Briggs home.
Excellent in the first half, they were equally poor after the break.
Certainly, injury to attacker Shane Sutherland has played a part in diminishing Elgin’s attacking potency, but a puzzled Moore said: “It was like a different team came out for the second half.
“It was really disappointing. We just didn’t play to the same tempo, didn’t keep the ball, didn’t pass it properly and didn’t do much right at all.
“So it was really disappointing that we didn’t capitalise on that first-half performance.”
Moore, though, was keen to draw some solace from the overall performance on a day when Bryan Cameron’s 10th-minute finish set them off to a great start.
Veteran forward Chris Templeman punished City’s loss of focus in the second half with a reply on the hour mark.
The 28-year-old Moore said: “I guess we have to remember the positives from the first half and one of those was we didn’t get beat. We could easily have lost the game.
“We are usually strong in the second half, like we were last week.
“It’s just frustrating we can’t get wins and build on it. It’s all right playing and having good games, but if we are not winning games then it reverberates around the whole stadium on match-days and, each week here, it’s building and building.
“So we need to get that monkey off our backs and start winning games again.
“Last season we had a sticky spell at this point at the worst point of the season. We were in such good form up until a month ago and it’s hard to put my finger on it.”
