Elgin City midfielder Archie Macphee feels his own season is only just beginning to get underway following a frustrating period of injury and illness.
Macphee was among several players to miss the bulk of Elgin’s pre-season due to Covid, before he picked up an achilles injury early on in the League Two campaign.
The 28-year-old says the impact of the virus took several weeks to fully shift, but after netting a penalty in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Kelty Hearts he feels ready to show his worth to Gavin Price’s men.
Macphee, who permanently rejoined City in the summer following a loan from Formartine United last term, said: “The season started quite slowly for myself personally. I was out through Covid for a while, I was ill for about a week.
“I was totally flattened and it did affect my fitness. It took me a good four or five weeks to feel decent again.
“I missed a lot of pre-season and the start of the season, and then I picked up an achilles injury.
“It was a bit of a slow start but I’m back to full fitness now and I’m raring to go. Hopefully I can have a good season ahead.”
Despite Elgin conceding in the 90th minute to draw with Kelty, Macphee feels Elgin must take confidence from their display against the hotly-tipped Fifers, going into Saturday’s home game against Annan Athletic.
He added: “To concede in the last minute was gutting, especially with how well we played.
“It felt like a defeat in the end, but it’s a point and we just need to concentrate on this weekend against Annan.
“Kelty are the favourites to win the league, they have spent a lot of money and they’ve got some good players.
“We can take positives from last weekend and hopefully take them into Saturday.
“It’s the same with every game at home, you’ve got to be looking to win.
“We can only concentrate on ourselves. We’ve got to give everything and hopefully it starts tomorrow.”
Annan are top of the table but lost last weekend to a Stenhousemuir side which had not previously recorded a league win this term, and Macphee is hopeful the Black and Whites can add to their solitary victory they have recorded this term.
Macphee added: “We have got off to a wee bit of a slow start, but all it takes is a couple of wins – the league is that tight.
“We need to look to get the three points and then build some momentum.
“In this league anyone can beat anyone. You are not going into any game knowing you are in for an easy ride, it’s a very competitive league and you’ve got to be on your game to come out the other side.
“We went through a wee sticky patch last season, and then all of a sudden we got back on form and it took us into the play-offs.
“Hopefully we can show a bit of consistency this season once we do start building that momentum.”
