Player-manager Ross Draper insists taking pride in closing out opponents can lead to success for Elgin City as they prepare for their League Two kick off on Saturday.
A 2-0 midweek win over St Johnstone colts was Draper’s first competitive victory since he took over the Borough Briggs hot-seat this summer.
Collecting zero points in the Viaplay Cup group ties against Motherwell, East Fife, Queen’s Park and Queen of the South was a tough opening spell. However, City have been rebuilding amid it all.
Centre-half Connall Ewan, 17, impressed against the young Saints on his debut on loan from Ross County, as did former ICT forward Ben Barron, who scored in his first game since joining from Highland League side Forres Mechanics. Ex-Brechin City defender Nathan Cooney also signed for City until 2025.
They follow three other top-flight loanees through the door. Defender Blair McKenzie, 17, and forward Liam Harvey, 18, came in from Aberdeen, while 19-year-old Ryan McLeman, arrived from Ross County, and also hit his first goal against the Perth visitors.
Draper helped Elgin secure their place in the fourth-tier when he was in caretaker charge with Charlie Charlesworth and Steven Dunn.
However, ninth place is not where Elgin want to be, and chairwoman Isla Benzie has already pin-pointed a top-four aim for the Moray club.
Elgin want to make winning a habit
Watching his ever-changing team battle for the victory pleased Draper no end ahead of Saturday’s home league opener against Stranraer.
He said: “I said to the boys you can get into the habit of winning games, no matter who you are playing.
“St Johnstone are a good outfit. I know (Saints coach) Liam Craig well and he’s got them playing good football. They played a younger team, and, to their credit, they caused us problems in the second half.
“With the experience we had on the pitch, along with the option of bringing players like Russell Dingwall on, I expected us to win the game.
“You have to get into the habit of winning. You must have the feeling of wanting to win games and defend your goal and keep clean sheets.
“That’s something we hadn’t done well enough in the Viaplay Cup games. That was one criticism of us as a group, but we saw that change on Tuesday, and it bodes well for the future.”
Blues are tricky first-day opponents
Stranraer lost to Ross County, Morton and Kelty Hearts and beat Edinburgh City as they too bowed out of the Viaplay Cup from a tough section.
Draper expects nothing other than a testing first 90 minutes of league action, but points to the quality shown by teenager Ewan as an example the rest of his players can follow.
He said: “We know from last year alone, Stranraer are a good footballing side, with the new manager (Scott Agnew) coming in at the end of last season.
“We know how tough a game this will be for us. We will go out to be on the front foot to try and win the game.
“Thomas McHale or Daniel Hoban will have to make saves at crucial times. You’re not going to be dominating a game for 90 minutes or anything like it.
“You look at Connall and the influence he can have. Despite his age of 17, he’s an old-school defender, who can also play on the ball.
“You don’t get many of those. I was on the bench on Tuesday, and I watched him barking out instructions – what an example he will set.
“He takes pride in not conceding goals. That’s the demands we want from the boys. We got a clean sheet on Tuesday, and we want to build upon that and take confidence from it.
“If we can shut the back door, it gives us a really good chance of winning games and finding ourselves in a good position.”
Full time
Elgin City 2 – St Johnstone B 0
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) August 1, 2023
‘No panic’ after harsh cup results
Largely down to their struggles last season, Elgin are tipped by many pundits to again have a tricky term.
Draper though is confident the club will kick on this season.
He said: “We have set targets in-house and we will stick to that.
“I don’t think there is anything between a lot of clubs in the league. There will be teams maybe well-backed who you would perhaps fancy to be favourites, but it will be a tight league again.
For much of last season, it was tight, after (champions) Stirling Albion and Dumbarton, who were running away with it. Everyone else was within touching distance of one another until it spread out towards the end.
“There has always been a plan and project here at Elgin.
“People looking from the outside in were maybe panicking (about Elgin’s results), but there is no panic within the club.
“We are building for the next three years. The board and Isla (Benzie, chairwoman) have been brilliant in terms of the support they have given me.
“I could have filled the squad six weeks ago with boys, but they wouldn’t have made much difference to the quality, and we are not wanting to do that.
“That’s why we were patient in terms of Connall Ewan, Blair McKenzie, Liam Harvey, Ryan MacLeman and well as Ben Barron. They have all improved us as a group.”
Defenders Matthew Cooper and Jake Dolzanski are pushing to be involved this weekend on their returns from injury.
