Elgin City manager Gavin Price says the Black and Whites will approach tonight’s match against League Two leaders Kelty Hearts with no fear.
City are aiming to become the first side to inflict defeat upon the Fife outfit, who are already seven points clear at the top of the table in their first season since winning promotion from the Lowland League.
Elgin were within seconds of ending that run when the sides last met at New Central Park in September. On that occasion Kallum Higginbotham netted a stoppage time equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw, after Archie Macphee had netted from the penalty spot.
With home advantage on their side for tonight’s match, Price sees no reason why Elgin cannot cause Kevin Thomson’s men problems.
He said: “We are looking forward to it, although we know it will be a difficult game.
“From a defensive point of view, we played well when we last played Kelty, in terms of limiting them to very few chances throughout the game.
“Playing at home, we hope to have a bit more of an attacking intent ourselves.
“We’ve got to take confidence from some of the games we have played against higher opposition in the past. Towards the end of last season we did very well against Queen’s Park.
“It will be a tough game, they have some excellent attacking players we will need to be wary of.
“We are looking forward to it. If we can treat the game in a positive manner, hopefully we can get a positive result.”
Price has selection options at his disposal
Elgin have not had a competitive outing since they drew 1-1 with Edinburgh City at Borough Briggs on November 23.
The Moray outfit are only four points ahead of bottom side Cowdenbeath, and aiming to close the gap on the sides above them.
Following a bounce game against Highland League outfit Strathspey Thistle on Saturday, Price hopes his squad is ready for the challenges they will face in the coming weeks.
He added: “It has been frustrating not being able to play games, but it’s good we have got one now. We have been anxiously waiting for our next chance to pick up points.
“It has been two weeks since the boys have played a game. We didn’t manage to do anything last weekend because of the storm.
“We have trained well, but it was important we got more game time into some of the players.
“Unfortunately Jaime Wilson has been isolating through Covid for 10 days. He’s out of that now so he will be available, but we will need to check how his health is.
“Euan Spark is suspended, but the one benefit is that the likes of Rory MacEwan, Russell Dingwall and Archie Macphee probably would have missed the game had it been last week.
“They have had a bit of time to recover, so we will assess them. We have two big games this week, so we just need to be sensible about how we select for that.”