Elgin City manager Gavin Price insists his side must put next month’s glamour Scottish Cup fourth round tie away to Hibernian to the back of their minds.
City were handed a trip to Easter Road to face Neil Lennon’s as their reward for a comfortable 4-0 victory over Stirling University at Forthbank last weekend.
City return to the same venue to face Stirling Albion today, and despite the prospect of a tie against Premiership opposition to look forward to, Price says his players must not allow their minds to drift from the task of climbing the League 2 table. Elgin are currently two points adrift of the play-off positions in fifth.
Price said: “The game is there but between now and then we need to concentrate on improving our league position. Hopefully we can get ourselves into the top four – that is the bread and butter for us.
“A one-off game against Hibs is great to look forward to, it’s good for the supporters and good financially for the club, but it’s not going to define our season.
“We are only focused on the Stirling Albion game. They are on a good run of form so it will be a hard game, but if we play how we can we can get a good result.
“We are trying to get that consistency of performance.”
Price was thrilled with the goalscoring impact of 16-year-old debutant Owen Loveland in last weekend’s victory, and the Elgin boss says he will not hesitate to give youth its chance.
Price, who is without skipper Jon-Paul McGovern through suspension, added: “It was really pleasing, Owen is a great kid to work with. He has a lot of energy and raw talent and I’m pleased to see him get his reward.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Jon-Paul McGovern at 38 or Owen Loveland at 16 – age is just a number and players will play based on what my eye tells me.”