Conor O’Keefe insists the scoreline flattered Stirling Albion as injury-hit Elgin City crashed at home on Saturday.
Seven days before an eagerly-anticipated Challenge Cup clash at home to Caley Thistle, the Borough Briggs hosts passed up decent chances while Binos ruthlessly pounced on theirs.
Former St Mirren youth O’Keefe, deputising as a striker, tried to pull off his best Kane Hester impression in the absence of the Elgin goalscorer and was also unfortunate not to net.
The 23-year-old said: “I thought we were the better team throughout, but we’ve not taken our chances – and they’ve been clinical with theirs.
“It was one of those games where nothing fell for us.
“Now Kane is out for a while, the manager was looking for some pace up front and I was just trying to do what Kane does, play off the shoulder, and I gave it my best shot.
“I thought I had scored and probably should have got a bit more on the shot.
“I put it in the right direction but just a bit short on power, and their boy just managed to keep it out.
“It could’ve been a different game if that went in, but instead they got a goal at a terrible time for us right on half-time – and it killed us a wee bit.
“We picked ourselves up and we were much better in the second half and came out really positive but just couldn’t get that goal.
“We’ll dust ourselves down for Caley Thistle in the cup now – and we’ll be ready.
“It’s always good going here, although it will be a hard one obviously.
“We will sit a bit deeper but hopefully we can get through it and continue our cup run.
Elgin signed Jaime Wilson from Falkirk and Ross Draper from Cove on Thursday, both on loan, but Draper wasn’t fit to start and Wilson also found himself on the bench.
Here is our team lineup for today’s match against @Stirling_Albion
Come on city! 🖤⚽️ pic.twitter.com/DSbF8OeX5g
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) October 2, 2021
Second-placed Stirling found themselves being bossed by Elgin for long spells but got the goals when it mattered.
The Binos also threatened when Dylan Bikey nodded an effort on top of the Elgin net when he should have scored from close range on 14 mins.
Elgin had the best first half chance on 37 minutes when Brian Cameron’s diagonal pass sent O’Keefe beyond the last defender.
He flicked the ball past keeper Blair Currie, but midfielder Kurtis Roberts raced back and stopped it right on the goal-line.
Two minutes’ stoppage time were up when the ball spun out for a Stirling corner. Nathan Flanagan’s kick was met by Binos’ left back Martin McNiff who shrugged off his marker and powered home a header.
Manager Gavin Price introduced former Caley Thistle and Rothes attacker Wilson to the action at half time and the Falkirk loanee almost made a dream start, latching on to a Russell Dingwall ball straight from kick off.
Beating his man on a diagonal run into the right side of the box, he planted a low drive just wide.
Ex-Caley Jags attacker Matheus Machado looked lively in only his second substitute appearance since joining Elgin, firing a strike narrowly over the bar from distance.
But Elgin’s attacks left them suspect at the back and sub Dale Carrick clipped the ball over McHale for the clincher on 86 minutes.
Manager Price said: “Stirling have hung on in the second half and the stats will show we dominated the second half with wave after wave of attacks.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the goal.
“It was positive in terms of how we played but I’m disappointed with the scoreline. It’s gutting to come away with nothing.”