Elgin City midfielder Rory MacEwan is confident his side will regain their spark in the coming weeks.
City opened with a 1-1 draw against Stranraer on Saturday, following a disrupted pre-season in which the Black and Whites’ squad was ravaged by Covid-19.
Although MacEwan felt Elgin were not at their best against the Blues, he was left disappointed Gavin Price’s men did not claim all three points, and he is hopeful the Moray side will be sharper off the blocks when they travel to Cowdenbeath in League Two today.
MacEwan said: “We were not at our best from the start of the game but with the way we finished, we were probably unlucky not to take all three points in the end.
“We had five or six strong chances in the last 15 minutes or so.
“We were quite disappointed with the draw, but it’s better than getting beaten.
“It’s always good knowing that when you’ve not played at your best you haven’t lost the game, and still had chances to win.
“It’s a promising sign that if we play better we can start winning games.
“Pre-season was a bit disrupted. During the cup games we could see we were getting stronger and stronger, and we finished well against East Fife.
“With another couple of games, I think we will be right up to the sharpness we need to be.
“It did look at times in the Stranraer game that it is quite early in the season. Hopefully after a good week of training we will be sharper.”
MacEwan, who is from Cummingstown, feels the continuity in Price’s squad can help them gain a march on some of their promotion rivals.
The Black and Whites were defeated in last year’s play-offs, with MacEwan confident his side can build on the experience this term.
He added: “Everyone in the squad knows that the play-offs are the minimum aim for us.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be in the play-offs or above.
“Other teams have made lots of signings, but they don’t have the same core group that we have.
“We know each other quite well as a team. Hopefully that will work well for us, when other teams are still gelling in two or three months time.
“From the team we had last year, the only starter we really lost was Stephen Bronsky. Creag Little has come in and he’s just slotted in and replaced Stephen straight away.
“We have kept much the same forwards and midfielders. We are certainly no weaker than we were last year.
“Hopefully we can just get better and better.
“It’s healthy when there’s competition from the back of the team to the front. You know that if you have a bad game you can find yourself on the bench the next week. “
Elgin have shown improvements in their away form in recent years, however they have not won at Central Park since they defeated the Blue Brazil 2-1 in November 2018.
MacEwan is hopeful his side can rectify that this weekend, with the 23-year-old adding: “If we go and perform as we can, then we can get the three points down there.
“It is one of the tougher places to go, with the general atmosphere of the place. Since I’ve been here we have struggled to get three points down there.
“If we perform and play as we know we can, I see no reason why we can’t give them a good game and take all three points hopefully.”
