Elgin forward Smart Osadolor admitted that it is the play-offs or nothing for his side after they went down to a frustrating 1-0 defeat against Cowdenbeath at Central Park.
Kris Renton scored the only goal of the game to give the Blue Brazil victory and leave Elgin in fourth spot in League Two.
Gavin Price’s men are on 28 points with leaders Queen’s Park 12 points clear at the summit.
Former Albion Rovers forward Osadolar said: “I think when you look at the amount of investment Queen’s Park has had this season then everyone probably thought they would win the league.
“I think for us it is just a case of making sure we finish in those play-off places and see where we go from there.”
The condensed fixture list meant this was the Borough Briggs outfit’s seventh game in 21 days.
Tiredness may be taking its toll, but Osadolor did not want to put the blame on fatigue.
He said: “It was a frustrating day; we just didn’t get started.
“We didn’t get started at all.
“I think to come to a place like this you need to get off to a good start and, to be fair, the first 20 or 30 minutes we weren’t at it.
“The second half we try and do everything right, but the ball just wouldn’t fall, we couldn’t get a break. You just have to take heart that on another day it would be different, and we move on to Tuesday and a chance to make it right.
“We have a decent squad and when it comes to the Saturday-Tuesday schedule it gives us a chance to fix it. We aren’t waiting a week to recover.
“We have decent players in the squad who are ready to come in anytime so it will be good to get back and get the job done. Today was just one of those days.”
🏆 Scottish League 2 table pic.twitter.com/N4X7j5xppE
— SPFL (@spfl) April 10, 2021
While Osadolor would not blame the hectic schedule for the sluggish start they made to the game, something was amiss in the first half as the home men dominated taking a deserved lead 20 minutes in, a slack back header from Stephen Bronsky allowing Renton to nip in and nod home.
This didn’t seem to spur Gavin Price’s side on much though as all they could muster in the half was a Connor O’Keefe effort that finished well over.
Price, who spent the majority of the first half watching from the stands, must have had some stern words at half time as the energy levels were greatly increased after the break.
Cowdenbeath were falling deeper, but whether by design or good fortune always seemed to have a man in the right place as wave after wave of pressure came.
For all their pressure, only half chances could be mustered for O’Keefe and Darryl McHardy as time ran out on Elgin.
Full Time@CowdenbeathFC 1-0 Elgin City
Despite a dominant second half it ends in defeat at Central Park.
Next up is a trip to Stenhousemuir on Tuesday
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) April 10, 2021
