Captain Matthew Cooper says Elgin City owe it to their fans to sort out their poor home form after another Borough Briggs defeat.
Just a week after beating leaders Dumbarton on their own patch, City slumped to a 1-0 home loss to bottom side Bonnyrigg, who struck a last minute Kerr Young winner.
Cooper is managing a knee problem which had dogged much of his campaign, having made his latest comeback in the 2-1 success at Dumbarton last week.
He couldn’t hide his disappointment as Elgin were beaten at the death by a team battling for league safety in their debut SPFL season.
“Our form at home and away is like chalk and cheese,” Cooper said. “There’s no excuse for our form here in Elgin, it’s not been good enough.
“The players are to blame and we’ve got to take that on the chin. We’ve got to be better.
“The supporters are still turning out in numbers to see us win games at Borough Briggs and we just haven’t been doing that. They deserve better.”
Cooper admitted he is still feeling the effects of a knee problem which kept him out of a large chunk of the current term.
“It’s been quite a while and I tried to come back last week. I felt it after an hour and it was similar today so I’m trying to get through it.
“I’m being told it might be like this for a few months but there’s ways of managing it.”
Plenty to ponder for Price
Manager Gavin Price felt his team edged it but came up short yet again, and is continuing his search to find the winning formula on home soil.
“I don’t think we can come off the pitch saying we should have won the game but I certainly don’t think we should have lost it,” he said.
“We had the better chances in the second half, and it was a better performance than our last couple of home games but still not good enough.
“There’s no game in this league that you can’t win and equally there’s no easy ride against anyone. We need to get wins on the board quickly and we will go down to Annan next week with a positive attitude and give ourselves a jolt so that we have the best chance of getting the points that will help our league position.”
STARTING XI
Here's our teamline to face Bonnyrigg Rose this afternoon.
Come on the City! ⚫️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/lJjohT5hEi
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) March 4, 2023
A good Elgin start saw Mitch Taylor fire over and Russell Dingwall forced a save out of keeper Paddy Martin.
Bonnyrigg striker Zander Murray should have scored after 20 minutes but glanced Lee Currie’s free kick wide of the target from close range.
Martin made a good double save from Rory MacEwan and Tom Findlay on the half hour as City chased an opener.
It needed a good stop by the legs of Elgin keeper Tom McHale to deny Callum Connolly who spun to fire goalwards in first half stoppage time.
Elgin, with Jevan Anderson on for the injured Ross Draper in the second half, had an early chance when Hester teed up Mitchell Taylor for a firm strike which Martin did well to push away.
Russell Dingwall then passed up a great chance for the home team just before the hour, as a loose clearance fell perfectly for him in the box but he steered a tame effort wide of the target.
The home side had the lion’s share of play in the second half but were stung on 89 minutes when Bonnyrigg broke the deadlock.
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