Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters has hailed the work of manager Gavin Price as the Moray club get set for a shot at reaching League One.
A stirring 3-2 win over League Two champions Queen’s Park on Tuesday led to Elgin finishing third in the table and they now go toe-to-toe with runners-up Edinburgh City over two legs in the play-offs, the first of which is at home this Saturday.
Price has had to shuffle the pack, including at the back as former St Mirren defender Andy McDonald joined Peterhead in January after a successful loan spell from St Cadocs from the West of Scotland League.
Standing strong and striking a decent team balance has worked a treat under Price and Tatters has been impressed.
He said: “Gavin changed the style of play when we lost Andy McDonald to help get a system at the back that was going to work for us. In the past three or four games that has come to fruition. It has really worked really well.
“Queen’s Park are by far and away the best team in League Two and yet they struggled to get through our defensive system. It was excellent and I was chuffed with that.
“We’re playing some really decent football. We try and knock the ball about and create as many chances as we can. Kane Hester puts away as many as he can.
“He doesn’t miss many and, with Brian Cameron just behind him, it’s really good. We also have a really industrious midfield, so it works well.”
He added: “Gavin Price and everyone at the club has helped to deliver these results. The supporters, the medical staff, the doc, the physio, the kitman, it’s the whole team.
“We want the players to have everything laid out for them and, rightly so, they just want to play their football. Everyone else can sort out everything else at the club. The players have produced the goods on the park. They have done a great job.”
League Two’s top scorer Hester is just one goal shy of 20 after his hat-trick against Queen’s Park this week.
Tatters hailed Elgin’s main man, but stressed it’s the graft of the entire group which has earned a top three finish.
He explained: “The goalscorers get all the plaudits and that’s because those are the guys who win you the games.
“Kane has done a great job for us, there’s no doubt about that, but it is about the 16 or 17 guys overall who have got us to this stage.
“Our bench has been very strong, especially with the Tuesday- Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday schedule, which was a demanding one.
“We had the first Saturday off, so we never got a break once we got started. Now we go Saturday and Tuesday again. We’re in the play-offs and let’s see where we go from there.”