Elgin City manager Gavin Price branded his side’s performance “disappointing” after they went down to a 3-1 defeat against East Fife on the opening day of League Two.
City were well beaten by East Fife, who were relegated to the division last season, with a Scott Shepherd double in the first half added to by a Scott Mercer strike after the break to secure three points for the visitors.
Darryl McHardy scored what proved to be a consolation strike for Elgin with 15 minutes left to play.
“It was disappointing in terms of the result,” said Price. “It wasn’t what we were looking for and we didn’t do enough in the game to deserve any more I don’t think.
“The goals we conceded in the first half were pretty criminal from a defensive point of view so we have to take that on the chin.
“There are some goals you can take your hat off for, if you’ve been done by good play. But we let a cross come into the box for the first one.
“You’re tearing your hair out with the second goal with the lack of communication, and the third goal we had a block put on us from the corner but that shouldn’t happen. It’s hugely disappointing in terms of goals conceded.
“I thought we had more spark about us in the second half but we needed to score the first goal in the second half. The third goal left us with too much to do. It wasn’t through lack of effort, but we’ve got to move on quickly.”
East Fife started the quicker of the two teams – going close when Alex Ferguson, on loan from St Johnstone, knocked just over on the stretch after 15 minutes.
Dylan Lawrence limped off injured with what appeared to be a pulled hamstring on 25 minutes, and East Fife went ahead just minutes later.
A ball in from the right from Brogan Walls was knocked in from inside the six-yard box by Scott Shepherd.
Shepherd doubled his tally five minutes before half-time, capitalising on a mix-up in the Elgin defence to lob over goalkeeper Daniel Hoban and into an empty net.
City started the second half the better of the two sides and almost halved the deficit shortly after the break when Kane Hester lobbed an effort a yard wide of goal.
Today’s Team to take on East Fife
C’mon the City 🖤 pic.twitter.com/kI0xYVoLT2
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) July 30, 2022
East Fife, though, secured the three points on the hour mark as left-back Scott Mercer fired home after being picked out by Brogan Walls’ low corner to the penalty spot.
Kane Hester almost pulled one back immediately as his effort bounced just wide off the post.
Darryl McHardy grabbed a goal for City with 15 minutes to play, nodding in Russell Dingwall’s corner at the back post, but it was too little too late.
Elgin City travel to Stirling Albion on Saturday looking to get back on track.
“We’ve got a good record down there so we’ve just got to regroup and get on with it,” Price added
