Elgin City captain Jon-Paul McGovern has hailed the character of the Black and Whites’ squad for brushing off a difficult period of form, ahead of today’s match against Cowdenbeath.
City returned to winning ways with a late 2-1 victory over Clyde last weekend, following a run of three straight defeats against Montrose, Stenhousemuir and Peterhead in which the Moray outfit conceded 14 goals.
Experienced midfielder McGovern, who has played for numerous clubs including Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday and Swindon Town, took on the responsibility of guiding City’s young squad through the slump, and the 37-year-old was eager to stress it was always too early to panic.
McGovern said: “That’s very much one of the roles that I’ve got, as I have been there and done that. It’s just about reassuring the lads.
“If we had won the three games, nobody would have said we were going to go on and win the league, so because we lost them we shouldn’t have got carried away.
“If you go on a losing streak, suddenly you find yourselves looking down, but if you win a couple you are looking up.
“Once we get to February or March, we will see where everybody is.
“It was three really tough games we had with the way the games worked out.
“For a young squad to be able to bounce back and get a win goes to show what we’ve got in us though.”
McGovern is desperate to continue the revival with a victory against the bottom-of-the-table Blue Brazil today, with Elgin sitting three points adrift of the play-off spots.
He added: “We just have to keep it steady and take it a game at a time, and see where it takes us.
“If we do our bit, we will let somebody else do theirs.
“It’s always good to play in front of our own supporters. We seem to be able to play our own game at home.
“It will be a really tough game though. We have seen the results over the last couple of weeks, and it has shown that everyone can beat everyone.”
City manager Gavin Price shuffled his side for last week’s victory against the Bully Wee, and McGovern insists nobody is assured of their place, adding: “In recent weeks we have struggled to put a team together but looking at the bench on Saturday, there would have been a few guys disappointed not to have played who will have a point to prove.
“They will be looking at the next couple of weeks and trying to get in there, and we are trying to create that competition.
“I don’t think there’s many teams in the league who can afford to have starters out of their team, perhaps with the exception of Peterhead with the money they have spent.
“Hopefully we can have competition for places which can help us to get results.”