Jim Weir is confident Elgin City won’t be dragged into the League 2 relegation play-off spot.
The former Black and Whites manager, is back on board with the Moray club, helping manager Gavin Price, assistant Steven Mackay and first-team coach Stevie Dunn.
Due to illness, Price missed Saturday’s competitive 2-1 defeat at Annan Athletic, which keeps City 10 points richer than rock-bottom Cowdenbeath with seven fixtures to go.
A fine 3-1 win over Stirling Albion and gutsy goalless draw at promotion-hunting Forfar Athletic before losing to Annan helped keep Elgin away from trouble below them.
Weir backs players to net key wins
And Weir has already seen enough from this current group to be convinced Elgin will add to their tally of 29 points.
He said: “There is still the threat of the dreaded bottom spot. Only a few weeks ago, the gap was a lot smaller than it is now.
“I certainly feel this squad is good enough to pick up a few victories between now and the end of the season. That will help the club build a strong squad for the next campaign.
“From what I’ve seen from these last two games, against Forfar and Annan, they were very unlucky to lose at Annan last Saturday after getting an excellent, well-deserved point at Forfar, a team almost 20 points ahead of them.”
Elgin prepare for Kelty showdown
Tomorrow, Elgin welcome runaway league leaders Kelty Hearts, who they’ve taken four points from this term.
In late January, a stirring show led to a 2-0 win against the Fifers at Borough Briggs, although Kelty gained revenge last month with a stinging 4-0 response.
Weir knows it will be a tough task, but he’s not ruling out another big performance and result this weekend.
He said: “There is no doubt Elgin are massive underdogs, although of course they did beat Kelty at home not so long ago.
“Earlier in the season, down there, they lost to a last-minute goal against them to deny them a win. They’ve done reasonably well against Kelty, although the most recent result down there was not a great result.
“Kelty have shown they are the strongest team and will go on to win League 2, but on any given day, Elgin at home is good enough to beat anyone.
“I see no reason why, if they can’t perform as they did against them there in January, then we can’t get another positive result.”
Foundations to be laid for next term
Weir believes this season has been full of hurdles for Price and his players as the chance of promotion has vanished out of sight.
But he believes the closing two months will allow the club to get its plans in place for a fresh push next term.
He added: “Everybody is realistic. I know Gavin would never look for excuses. The club has had its fair share of injury and Covid. That’s been difficult, although I appreciate some other clubs have had that to deal with as well.
“Whenever they’ve started to get a run going, they’ve been hampered by injuries or illness or Covid.
“They recently went on a good unbeaten run and they could have put themselves into a strong position challenging for the promotion play-offs at one stage. The run of defeats makes that, while not mathematically impossible, probably not achievable this year.
“With seven games to go, it’s about getting as many points on the board as we can. We can build confidence and get a bit of momentum going.
“The club will aim to get players signed up for next season. If you can get the nucleus of a good team, players then see progress and maybe a bigger prize, to challenge for promotion.”