Elgin City boss Gavin Price reckons dumping Dundee out of the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup ranks as one of the club’s biggest results.
The League 2 outfit came from behind to see off 10-man Dundee, who had goalkeeper Calum Ferrie sent off in the second half.
Goals from Rabin Omar and Shane Sutherland cancelled out Cammy Kerr’s opener and earned Elgin a place in Tuesday’s fourth round draw. Price said: “The sending-off is a key moment in the game.
“It’s really put the cards in our favour having the extra man. But playing a full-time team two divisions above us, that’s probably one of Elgin’s biggest scalps. I’m proud of the players and I think they deserved it.
“I was disappointed with the players at half-time. I didn’t think we showed the self-belief to go and play. We froze a little bit. We did that better in the second half.
“It’s not as though we weren’t playing against a full-strength team – it was a strong Dundee team. We had chances to kill the game off in the second half as well.
“We’ve been threatening to do that in games this season and we really now need to transfer this into the league.”
Price reserved praise for Sutherland’s display, with the 28-year-old now on 12 goals for the season and recapturing the form that made him one of the SPFL’s most lethal marksmen.
He added: “We’ve got the right Shane Sutherland back this season.
“He’s one of the top scorers in Scotland and the way he’s played this season is the Shane Sutherland we knew before his injury. He’s a happier guy about the place and that’s transferring on to the pitch.”
The Elgin boss believes he has assembled a strong squad at Borough Briggs but the challenge now is to transfer cup success into their League 2 campaign, with a play-off spot a realistic target this season.
Price said: “We need to back it up with having a go at getting higher up the league. We’ve not got the points we should have. It’s nice to get through to the next round but it’s the league that we’ll be judged on.”
Meanwhile Dundee manager James McPake blasted his side’s unacceptable second-half performance as the Dark Blue were jeered off the field at Dens Park.
A week after they had capitulated 6-2 to neighbours Dundee United in the league, they were on the receiving end of a big upset on home soil by League 2 Elgin.
Supporters turned on the Dundee team and McPake at full-time
McPake said: “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, that second-half performance was nowhere near acceptable for a club this size.
“Another level of performance that was really poor.
“It was going OK in the first half but not much more than that.
“I said at half-time when you’re only a goal in front, you’re vulnerable.
“Fair play to Elgin, they deserved to win the game.
“It wasn’t complacency, we just weren’t good enough.
“It was a very strong team and a team that if they were right and did things properly, should have won the game.”
Of the fans’ reaction, he added: “I can understand that.
“They come week in week out, no matter who’s in charge.”
Dundee follow United out of the competition, after the Tannadice club lost to Arbroath on penalties on Saturday.
It now means there are just four Championship clubs – Caley Thistle, Partick Thistle, Alloa Athletic and Arbroath – left in this season’s competition.
Ferrie, making just his third appearance for Dundee, was visibly annoyed with referee Grant Irvine’s decision as he left the field but McPake was in no mood to provide excuses for the result.
He added: “I’m disappointed for Calum as he’s a very good young goalkeeper and hopefully he learns from this.
“The referees can only deal with their side of the game and how they see things.
“I look after our side of the game as a manager and I’m not making any excuses.”
