Elgin City manager Gavin Price insists his side’s stay in the play-off places will not last long if the Black and Whites fail to address their defensive problems.
City have conceded 11 goals in their last three matches, however the Moray outfit remain in fourth position despite last weekend’s 4-1 loss against league leaders Edinburgh City.
Elgin have Jordan Lowdon back from suspension for today’s game against Queen’s Park at Hampden Park, however fellow defenders Craig Beattie and Matthew Cooper remain doubtful through injury.
Price is calling for his side to cut out the slackness, and he said: “We are still in a position where we can keep fourth place going into Christmas if we win this weekend, which should be a good carrot.
“We obviously need to get results – we are not going to stay in this position if we are leaking the goals we are just now.
“We need to really start getting that right. We are playing well enough, last Saturday was frustrating because we played really well against the league leaders as we have done in the last few games.
“We can’t keep being so fragile at the back. We are conceding goals too easily. We need to be much stronger and we have been working on that as a team – I’m not just singling out the defenders.
“At the start of the season we were not conceding a lot of goals, but for one reason or another we have recently – the chopping and changing of the team through injuries and suspensions has not helped.”
Price has been encouraged by his side’s attacking play, adding: “I think we are one of the teams in the league that play – it suits the style of players we’ve got.
“We have been creating a lot of chances in recent weeks so I don’t want to change the way we are playing.”