Fresh from picking up the League 2 manager of the month award, Elgin City’s Gavin Price is calling on his team to tackle their promotion push with fresh energy.
The Borough Briggs club’s boss was announced on Wednesday as the division’s top manager in January after Elgin won two, drew two and lost once.
The earned points, which included a superb 2-0 home victory over leaders Kelty Hearts, have given hope to City’s aim of making a late promotion play-off bid.
A 2-1 defeat at Stenhousemuir and Saturday’s sore 4-0 loss at Kelty set them back somewhat and they are sitting eighth in the table, eight points adrift of Edinburgh City, who are in the final play-off spot right now.
Three crunch fixtures now await Elgin, starting with home league games against sixth-placed Stranraer on Saturday then third-placed Annan Athletic on Tuesday followed by a trip to basement side Cowdenbeath a week on Saturday.
Another strong run required – Price
Price, who has now won the SPFL monthly award at City three times, explained what matters most if the side rediscover those high levels to close in on their promotion rivals.
He said: “It’s great to get the award, although it is tempered a bit by where we are in the league. We’re not where we want to be.
“While it’s nice we picked up a bit of form and got some really good results, we’re in a position where we’re going to have to have another month and more of similar stand if we want to get to where we want to be.
“The award is a nice accolade for the management team to get, but we are under no illusions – getting up the league is the priority. Let’s hope we can kick on for the remainder of the season.
“We had a couple of good wins last month, but I still don’t think we’re 100% there. The Kelty game aside last Saturday, we could have done better in the Stenhousemuir match.
“We need to go on a strong six or seven-game run now if we want to get to where we want to be. It’s as simple as that.
“We have the players to achieve that and we have key players coming back from injury.”
‘Not much margin for error’ – boss
Elgin need to be bagging as many of the points possible over the next week and Price knows it’s crunch time in terms of results.
He said: “Three games within seven days from this weekend is a big period for us. We have got to be ready for it.
“These games are pivotal for us. The next 10 to 14 days is a key time for us as we need to take on that January form to try and cement our challenge for the top four. We need to concentrate because there is not much margin for error.”
Fringe players and trialists on show
On Tuesday night, at the Gleaner Arena, Elgin were 7-0 winners in a bounce game against Highland League side Strathspey Thistle.
Price is boosted by how some players performed and explained more options will be opening up to him ahead of this key part of the campaign.
He added: “It was a good chance to give some of the guys who have been on the bench game time and we had a couple of trialists.
“There were a couple of really good individual performances which made me sit up and take notice.
“We still have two loan players potentially we can bring in, as well as free agents, so we’re working away on what we need.
“We also have Brian Cameron and Matthew Cooper back at training this week, which is important for us. They are, in effect, like two new players, having both been out for a while, so it’s hopefully shaping up well.”
FT here at the Gleaner Arena pic.twitter.com/JYdmcHgZN1
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) February 8, 2022