Skipper Matthew Cooper backs Elgin City to come out all guns blazing in pursuit of three League 2 points against Stranraer on Saturday.
Elgin have yet to record a win in the league this season and, on Wednesday, suffered a 3-2 defeat at Highland League hosts Rothes in the North of Scotland Cup for the second successive year.
A 3-1 opening day league loss to East Fife was followed by back-to-back 2-2 draws away to Stirling Albion and Forfar Athletic.
Beating Dundee United Colts 1-0 in the SPFL Trust amid that spell was a fresh glimpse of what Elgin can do and last week’s draw at Forfar was earned despite ending with nine men on the Station Park pitch.
Brian Cameron, when conceding a penalty from which the Loons scored, saw red in the first half and Angus Mailer was given his marching orders late on, but it was a well-earned result, despite them leading twice.
Win can drive City on upward curve
Defender Cooper insists the squad are focused on seeing off sixth-placed visistors Stranraer, with the chance to overtake them with a victory.
He said: “The sooner we get that first win, the better. It’s important at this stage of the season to pick up a couple of wins.
“Momentum is massive. Once you pick up one win, you can build on that and go on a wee run as the confidence builds.
“Fingers crossed Saturday will be the first win of the season. We need to make sure that happens.
“Stranraer have had a decent start to their season and, while we know what we’ll be up against, we have to just focus on 0urselves.
“In our last two (league) games, we’ve played well, but ended up going to down to 10 men and nine men. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot in the last couple of weeks.
“It’s really about putting a performance together, because we have been playing well.
“There have been signs against Stirling and Forfar to show we’re getting back to our best. We just need to do it for the full game.
“It was a double blow last week when we conceded the penalty and had the sending off.
“We actually played really well in the first half last weekend, but I was happy after the game at how the boys dug in when, for the last 10-15 minutes, it was backs against the wall.
“To get through it and come away with a draw showed the fighting spirit amongst us.”
Cup performance lacked intensity
Cooper explained the cup loss at Rothes was a sharp reminder that standards cannot slip, with some players possibly blowing their chance to face Stranraer.
He said: “Everyone was disappointed with the standard of performance in midweek. We lacked intensity and were a bit flat, which shouldn’t have been the case.
“As the manager said pre-game, it was a chance for boys who maybe hadn’t really had their chance yet to come in and stake a claim for Saturday and give the manager something to think about.”
Nicolson will make impact with City
One plus point in midweek for Elgin was the performance of full-back Lewis Nicolson, who made his debut the day after joining on loan until January from Caley Thistle.
Cooper feels he will have an impact in a squad with plenty of options all over the park.
He added: “Lewis was impressive on Wednesday night. He’s a big lad with a good engine. He was getting up the park and putting in some great deliveries into the box.
“The squad is coming together nicely. We were a couple of players short, but it’s looking a lot better now.
“We’ve got two suspensions this weekend, but when everyone is fit, we do have a really good squad.”
Elgin will be without Cameron and Mailer, who are suspended as a result of last week’s red cards.
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