Defender Matthew Cooper believes Elgin City showed enough in Saturday’s spirited comeback to suggest the promotion dream remains alive.
A 2-2 draw at home to Stirling Albion extended the Borough Briggs club’s run without a victory to 10 games and slipped out of the play-off places for the first time this season.
City slipped out of the play-off places with two games to go, but third-placed Annan play fourth-placed Montrose this week so if Elgin win their two games they would get back into the top four.
Cooper, back in the first team after injury problems, saw enough positives to lend him encouragement for the closing two weeks of the regulation season.
The former Caley Thistle defender had been a frustrated spectator over the past few weeks as Elgin’s poor run of form continued.
Having torn his hamstring in March, Cooper missed six games of City’s chase for the play-offs but returned to fitness this week and went straight into the side.
It wasn’t the result City craved, but Cooper helped inspire a comeback from 2-0 down against the Binos to draw 2-2.
Cooper said: “It was a long month for me, six games out at this time of the season is so frustrating.
“We could be going for the title in different circumstances, but we’ve had bad injuries through the squad and I think some hard luck as well, that happens in football.
“It was a nightmare having to come to games and watch. I hate watching from the sides and I was kicking every ball with the players.
“So it felt good to be back out there. In the first half I thought we were comfortable but didn’t take our chances. But we didn’t come out for the second half and for five or 10 minutes it was costly.”
Early in the second half, Darren Smith and Dylan Bikey put Stirling 2-0 ahead.
City’s recovery – with Jamie Reid and Archie MacPhee salvaging the point – gave Cooper renewed belief.
He said: “The comeback was excellent and you saw the crowd, the staff and all the players – there was a real buzz. We haven’t seen that in a while.
“We said at the end of the game, if we had lost it there might have been nothing to look forward to, real doom and gloom.
“But instead there is real belief. We just need to sort it out so we are not doing it from 2-0 down, but right from the start of a game.
“If we can take that last 20 minutes into the next two games we should be aiming to win both of them.
“It’s getting down to the nitty-gritty. We’ve now got Arbroath who are going for the title and Cowdenbeath who are trying to stay up, so they are by no means easy games.”
