Elgin City manager Gavin Price has called on his side to play to their own strengths in order to progress past Clydebank in today’s Scottish Cup second round replay.
City were held to a 1-1 draw by the Bankies in Monday’s initial match at Holm Park, meaning the two sides will meet again at Borough Briggs this afternoon.
Elgin started strongly and opened the scoring through Rory MacEwan, however a resurgent second half display from the West of Scotland League side saw them level through Nicky Little’s penalty.
The Moray outfit are in the midst of a poor run of form, having won just one of their last nine matches.
Price says his side must build on the positives from the early stages of Monday’s match.
He said: “I have taken a lot of good points from the game on Monday night.
“There’s a lot of stuff we have been working on and we showed the potential of what we can do.
“When things are working differently in the game we’ve got to be able to adapt to that and not be too one-dimensional.
“We know what went wrong in the second half. We just need to make sure we get all aspects right in the replay.
“The one thing it has given us is the confidence that, if we play to our strengths, we can be a really good team.
“We have always known that, but it’s just piecing it together for 90 minutes.
“Sometimes we need to adapt when teams change their style to knock us off our stride.
“We’ve got to be brave, and be ready for that. You can’t get it your own way in a game all the time, we were always going to be up against it at some point on Monday.
“We’ve just got to be slightly better at how we deal with it, and hopefully we can come out on the right end of it.”
Price urges Elgin to rise to occasion in replay
The winners of today’s tie will set up a third round match at home to League One outfit Clyde, and Price hopes the Borough Briggs crowd can play a key role.
He added: “Hopefully the bigger pitch at Borough Briggs will suit us a wee bit more.
“I’m sure it will be a good cup atmosphere. I believe Clydebank are bringing a lot of supporters up.
Was a great atmosphere on Monday night at @clydebankfc. I am sure we can replicate that at Borough Briggs on Saturday. Cracking cup tie if Monday anything to go by. ⬛️⬜️⚽️ https://t.co/83AhBhQF0H
— Gavin Price (@gavprice74) October 27, 2021
“We hope the tables are turned and our supporters can get behind the team in a similar way to how Clydebank did on Monday.”
Elgin will be without leading scorer Kane Hester, along with loan players Tom Grivosti, Ross Draper and Jaime Wilson.
Price is pleased to have Matthew Cooper available again, with the defender returning from injury to play his first game since July on Monday.
Price added: “It was difficult for Matthew, he was clearly tiring towards the end.
“He did well to get through the game and hopefully he will be ready to go again.”
