Gavin Price says two contrasting recent performances have made clear Elgin City’s benchmark when they face Stirling Albion on Friday.
The Black and Whites triumphed 2-1 at home to Stenhousemuir in their last league fixture, with the result keeping them third in the League Two table.
In their previous home match just under a month beforehand, City suffered a chastening 4-0 loss to leaders Dumbarton.
With three wins along with a penalty shoot-out exit to League One side Clyde in the SPFL Trust Trophy since then, Price is confident his side are back on track.
Price is eager to follow that up with another strong home display against another promotion rival.
He said: “It’s a home game against one of the top teams in the league.
“We need to make sure we are mindful of how we go into the game.
“I saw one side of us against Dumbarton recently, and then another side against Stenhousemuir.
“We need to make sure we’ve got the right Elgin that turns up.
“I’m pretty sure we have learned the harsh lessons from the Dumbarton game and we won’t repeat that again.
“We have certainly been defensively better. I still think we need to improve how we are playing, but it’s getting that balance right.
“We have been scoring a lot of goals, but conceding too many goals recently.
“We have shored that up a little bit recently, but it’s just about getting the balance right to win more games than we draw or lose.”
City returning to action against highly-placed Binos
Elgin will play their first match for nearly a fortnight, after last weekend’s trip to Albion Rovers was postponed due to a frozen pitch.
The wintry conditions have also affected Elgin’s training schedule, however Price says City are ready for the challenge of facing a second-placed Binos side, who Elgin can move to within two points of with a victory.
Price added: “Stirling will be a hard game. They are a good side, who themselves have scored a lot of goals this season.
“They have very dangerous attacking players, so we are going to have to make sure we are ready for them.
“It has not been easy with the weather and the logistics of where the squad is geographically based.
“We managed to get a couple of things done, and we got everybody back on Tuesday for training as normal.
“It has not been ideal but I don’t think we will be the only team that will have been hampered with that.
“The players are good at what they have got to do off the park, and they have kept themselves going. We will be ready to go on Friday.”
City will be without defender Jake Dolzanski through suspension, however Price is pleased with the cover he has available to him.
The Elgin boss added: “We have good strength in depth in the squad, which is important. We have got players who can step in, and hopefully they will take their opportunity.”
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