Elgin City player-manager Ross Draper admitted his team got what they deserved when they lost their League Two opener at home to Stranraer.
A first half James Dolan header earned full points for the Stair Park side after a scrappy encounter at Borough Briggs.
“It’s a tough one to take,” Draper said.
“I said to the boys that we haven’t been in their final third enough and it just felt a little bit safe, with no-one taking on responsibility of being the one that wants to do it.
“There’s plenty of stuff for us to work on going forward.
“We realise it’s day one of the league season and we just need to dust ourselves down a wee bit and go again next week, and it will be a better performance.”
Goalkeeper Tom McHale was disappointed his team conceded a sloppy goal midway through the first half.
“It wasn’t really a chance, more of a half chance but they’ve scored it,” he said.
“We’ve got to tidy up there, we can’t go letting goals like that in again this season.
“We’ve got a new squad and a new way of playing and it’s about patience.
“We know results count but it will come in time. We are not going to panic or rush things and we will work hard together.”
Draper pulled out of his own starting XI due to injury half an hour before kick-off with Jake Dolzanski promoted from the bench to take his place in defence.
He handed Ross County loan defender Connall Ewan his League Two debut alongside Dolzanski and Nathan Cooney in a defensive three, while Ben Barron made his first league appearance for the club in attack.
👏🏻 Congratulations to both Connall Ewan and Ryan MacLeman who both made their cinch League 2 debuts today in Elgin City’s narrow defeat against Stranraer.
Connall played the full 90 minutes and Ryan played 89 minutes, being replaced by Aidan Cruickshank in the latter stages. https://t.co/4JQa8v8zdB
— Ross County FC (@RossCounty) August 5, 2023
Ewan, 17, was named man of the match award for his assured display at the back, but going forward the Black and Whites carried little threat.
Stranraer had the first chance when centre-back Craig Ross skimmed the bar with a header from Dolan’s free kick on 16 minutes.
It was Dolan who opened the scoring for Stranraer seven minutes later, nodding home from close range after Elgin keeper Tom McHale parried Tam Orr’s angled drive.
Elgin barely got a sniff of a chance in the first 45 minutes with Liam Harvey seeing a header go wide and Ben Barron’s close-range effort being blocked.
Draper made a half time sub taking off Dolzanski, who was playing for the first time in four months after recovering from a knee injury, and bringing on midfielder Rory MacEwan.
Dolan nearly netted his second for the away side with a 20-yard strike that took a slight deflection and went just past the post midway through the second half.
Brian Cameron and Russell Dingwall both saw shots on goal deflected past as time ran out on the Moray side’s push for an equaliser.