After finishing their Premier Sports Cup campaign empty-handed, Elgin City have no room for complacency when the League 2 season starts next week.
That was the warning from manager Gavin Price after a 2-0 home loss to Queen of the South brought the curtain down on the group stages.
While Queens were left hoping for an Aberdeen win over Raith to qualify, Elgin ensured they lost all four of their League Cup group stage matches after a poor start to the second half was punished by their Dumfries opponents.
Goals by Keiran McKechnie and Ruari Paton in a four-minute spell after the break at Borough Briggs won the contest for Queens and Price was perplexed by his team’s slump.
“The first half was excellent in terms of how we defended as a team,” Price said. “But you can’t take your foot off the gas at all.
“We will suffer in our league if we don’t come out of the traps in the second half and we didn’t do that today.
“The consequences of it are not as high today, but the consequences next week against East Fife in our first league game will be.
“After half time, I just felt we were really, really flat and not getting close to Queen of the South at all.
“It wasn’t just the goals we conceded, they had a couple of other chances in that 10-15 minute spell and it took us too long to regroup.”
Hester makes wrong choice when played through
There was little between the teams in that opening 45 minutes, with Elgin spurning undoubtedly the best opportunity just a minute before the break.
Rory MacEwan’s through ball released Kane Hester behind the away defence and his decision to round keeper Max Currie rather than shoot cost him a goal, as it allowed defender Ciaran McKenna to get back and rob him of possession with the target in front of him.
Queens’ best effort saw Lee Connelly’s fiery 30-yard effort tipped over the bar by home keeper Daniel Hoban.
The second half was a different story with Hoban having to deny Ruari Paton just 30 seconds in, and it wasn’t long before the deadlock was broken.
Sub McKechnie was given space on the edge of the box to fire for goal and, although Darryl McHardy acrobatically hooked the ball away on the line, it was adjudged to have crossed by the far side assistant on 49 minutes.
Elgin didn’t recover from that and Paton curled a drive off the post two minutes later.
When the home side didn’t take heed of that warning, Paton stepped into a shooting position on 53 minutes and crashed the ball low into the corner of the net in clinical fashion.
Paton and McKechnie then both slipped the ball wide with only Hoban to beat as City lost their way in the contest.
‘We need to get off to a good start’
Elgin captain Matthew Cooper, who went off with a hip injury at half time, highlighted the importance of his team getting things right in their league opener at Borough Briggs next week.
“If any of the boys start getting slack, that’s when the team can suffer,” he said.
“If you think your position in the team is safe you are not going to push yourself as much as if you know someone is champing at the bit to get your place.
“We spoke towards the end of last season about how important it was that we came out flying this season and that’s what we plan to do when the league gets going.
“We need to get off to a good start this time round.”
