Elgin City relinquished their position as League Two leaders as they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of fellow promotion hopefuls Edinburgh City at a windy Ainslie Park.
But there was a sense of injustice among the Borough Briggs players after the game as they reflected on a game which they dominated for significant periods, squandering a hatful of scoring opportunities in the process.
“We definitely should have taken something from the game, especially after the start we made,” said rueful City skipper Euan Spark.
“We could easily have been three goals in front after 10 minutes.
“Our strikers have been on fire recently, especially Kane Hester who has had a great season so far, but today it just wasn’t happening for them.
“The conditions were terrible – I’ve never experienced wind like that anywhere but I felt we deserved at least a point from the game.”
Elgin, clearly conscious of the opportunity provided by having the wind behind them in the first half, bombarded the Edinburgh goal early on with Smart Osadolor bringing out an excellent save from Calum Antell after only 30 seconds before Rory McEwan rattled Antell’s crossbar with a powerful long-range effort shortly afterwards.
It became clear that it wasn’t going to be Elgin’s day when the normally deadly Hester squandered a glorious chance after being set up by Brian Cameron, the ball appearing to get stuck under his feet when faced with only Antell to beat,
The visitors’ inability to capitalise on their early domination of proceedings was punished midway through the first half when the capital side took the lead against the run on play, Conrad Balatoni’s header being saved by Tom McHale before Gabby McGill steered home the rebound.
The home side tried hard to add to their tally during the second half but McHale and his fellow defenders stood firm and there was drama in the final minutes when McHale embarked on an upfield adventure to cause havoc in the Edinburgh defence as Elgin forced two late corners from which they almost snatched what would have been a deserved equaliser.
McHale said: “I don’t get many chances to forward like that and it looked like we were going to get a late goal but it wasn’t to be, somehow they managed to keep the ball out.
“It’s usually a good fixture when we play Edinburgh, two really good footballing sides but I felt that the conditions ruined the game. If we’d taken our chances then we’d have won.
“The winning streak’s over but we start again next week. We know what we’re capable of and we won’t be taking our foot off the pedal.”
