Ross Draper was satisfied after his Elgin City side earned their first point of the League Two season in drawing 0-0 against promotion-tipped Forfar at Station Park.
“It’s a good result,” Draper said. “It wasn’t exactly pretty at times, especially in the second half, but can you come away from home every other week, play nice football and dominate the ball? No. Not yet for us anyway.”
Player-boss Draper, who put in a tough shift at the heart of the Black and Whites defence, added: “Sometimes you have to dig in and, defensively, I thought we were magnificent.
“I thought we were really good in terms of the grit and determination we put in.
“You can’t fault that, and (conceding) one goal in two games is not a bad start – we just need to sharpen up at the other end.”
Things could have been even better for Draper and his side when the player-manager rose highest in the box soon after half-time and flicked a header towards the Forfar goal, only for keeper Marc McCallum to somehow push the ball on to the inside of the post and gather at the second attempt.
“I was wheeling away celebrating,” laughed Draper. “He’s tipped it on to the post and I thought it was going into the side netting, so I was away celebrating and it shows the small margins that can decide the difference between three points and one point.”
That Elgin chance came five minutes after the restart following a first 45 which saw very, very little in the way of goalmouth action, but for the remainder of the second half it was more about holding on to one point rather than chasing three.
Forfar pressed and pushed and Elgin had to scramble away two cutbacks in the 65th minute when the hosts looked set to take the lead.
The Loons then had a penalty shout turned down and a free-kick on the edge of the box awarded midway through the second half, but the City wall stood strong to block.
Forfar’s Craig Thomson beat Rory MacEwan to a cross and looked set to break Elgin’s resolve, but somehow he headed wide.
As the clock ticked down, City were camped in their area with Forfar looking to snatch the three points, and it took a spectacular save from Thomas McHale to preserve the point for his side as he stopped a ferociously-struck volley.
Full time at Station Park@ForfarAthletic 0 – @ElginCityFC 0
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) August 12, 2023
Draper and his side are now in the curious position of playing Forfar again – this time in the SPFL Trust Trophy on Tuesday – and the player-manager thinks it will be a different game at Borough Briggs.
”I think it will be a much different game,” Draper said.
“We see it as a good competition financially for the club to earn a few quid and we want to win the game.
“We might shuffle the pack and gives boys who haven’t had game time some minutes, but we still want to win the game.
“At home, we want to keep clean sheets and play a bit more football, so we will take it seriously.
“I don’t think Forfar will be looking forward to a Tuesday night in Elgin for the Challenge Cup.”
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