Steven Mackay believes Elgin City’s recent form gives them cause to believe they are better than their league position suggests.
City go into Saturday’s home game against Edinburgh City occupying second bottom position in League Two, although they are 10 points ahead of Cowdenbeath.
The Black and Whites are only two points adrift of seventh-placed Stirling Albion, with six matches remaining.
Elgin have taken five points from their last four matches in a sequence of matches which has seen Gavin Price’s men face top-three sides Kelty Hearts, Forfar Athletic and Annan Athletic in succession.
Assistant boss Mackay says recent displays have offered reason for encouragement despite the drop down the table.
He said: “We had that bad run of five losses in a row which was frustrating. It felt like we were not doing ourselves justice and underperformed in the majority of those games.
“We had a good chat with the boys after the Cowdenbeath game and we were looking for a bit of a response in the last quarter of the season.
“It’s been four tough games. Stirling are in around ourselves but aside from them it has been the top three teams in the league.
“It has not had a dramatic impact on our league standing, as Albion Rovers winning on Tuesday saw us drop to second bottom.
“From that perspective it doesn’t make pleasant reading, but I think the performances in the last four games go to prove we are a better side than where we are sitting.
“We are there for a reason, I understand that. But internally we believe we are a better side than where we are.”
City assistant striving for consistency
Mackay insists the recent form counts for nothing unless they can translate it into results against teams at the same end of the table.
He added: “We have taken five points off Kelty this season – I don’t think any team has done that so far.
“It demonstrates to us that we have certainly got the capabilities within our squad to perform against the best teams in our league.
“We need to put into place that level of consistency. There’s no point in doing it against Kelty or Forfar, if we can’t do it to teams around us.
“The challenge for us and Gavin is to get that level of performance on a consistent basis.”
Elgin out to claim long-awaited victory over Citizens
The Moray outfit are seeking to end a long-awaited hoodoo against this weekend’s managerless opponents, having not defeated the Citizens in their last 14 meetings stretching back to August 2018.
The Borough Briggs men have Evan Towler back from injury, however Darryl McHardy is still being assessed.
Mackay added: “It’s not going to go away until we beat them. The best thing to do is to try and get the victory this weekend.
“Last time we played them at home I felt we performed well but didn’t take our chances, but gave away a couple of sloppy goals.
“There is no reason why we can’t be confident given the last performance.
“We are at home, so we should be confident of beating anyone.”
