Elgin City have bolstered their attacking options with the loan signing of striker Matthew Wright from Premiership club Ross County.
The 20-year-old, who has already had loan spells with League One sides Montrose and Falkirk, will now gain further game-time with Ross Draper’s League Two outfit.
Wright, who scored a pre-season hat-trick in County’s 5-1 win at Nairn County, will spend the season with Elgin.
Borough Briggs player/manager Draper already has 17-year-old Staggies defender Connall Ewan and 19-year-old midfielder Ryan McLeman on loan and Wright completes the set.
Wright, whose only senior goal for the County was a last-gasp leveller in a 3-3 draw against Rangers in January 2022, showed a further scoring knack at Montrose with six goals in 16 outings.
Draper, whose side were wasteful in their League Two-opening 1-0 home loss against Stranraer last week, says getting Wright on board is a real boost.
He said: “Matty had a little niggle, so we had to wait a couple of weeks, but we are delighted to get him on loan.
“We’re excited about what he can bring to the team. He’s a quality player who will bring a different kind of dimension to what we’ve got.
“We’re working closely with Ross County and he’s one I’ve been hoping to bring to Elgin throughout the summer.
“We’ve been offered other boys, but the likes of Matty, Connall and Ryan from Ross County were who we wanted, so it was worth the wait to get these players on board.
“We hope to then have two more transfers to come in before the end of the month.”
Wright can hit goal trail at Elgin
County manager Malky Mackay is delighted to see another of his players make the short-term switch to the Moray club.
He said: “I am delighted that Matty has joined Elgin City. This is a platform for him to showcase his talents and prove himself in the SPFL.
“It is important for young players to continue to test themselves, and we believe Matty will thrive at Elgin. He was due to go out a couple of weeks ago and took a little knock.
“We felt we wanted to keep him local in terms of training every day with us.
“He is into league football again. Let’s see if he can go there, play and score goals.
“Connall Ewan got a man-of-the-match through at Elgin on his debut (against Stranraer). The quiet big lump just keeps going from strength to strength, which I love coming off the back of last year.
“He’s a natural born leader and he’s gone out and done that as well.
“It is good for young Ryan MacLeman to go into league football again as well.
“He’s another who is the quietest man in the world, but he gradually affected Forres (Mechanices in the Highland League) and now he’s gradually starting to affect Elgin.
“I’m delighted for George Robesten and Andrew Macleod at (Highland League) Nairn County as well.”
Draper wants more cutting edge
Elgin will be looking to get their first points on the board when they travel to Forfar Athletic this Saturday.
They will then host the Angus club next Tuesday in the SPFL Trust Trophy second round.
After the loss to Stranraer last week, Draper hopes a week of training will lead to an on-field improvement.
He said: “I watched the game back and we didn’t get in their final third enough. Everything was in front of Stranraer. Their two centre halves coasted the game because of how we played.
“We’ve had a full week now with our training sessions to work on that aspect of our play.
“Their goal last week came from an opportunity where we didn’t go into their final third, we lost the ball and it ends up in the back of our net after a couple of mistakes.
“The boys know we have to be better and we’ve got a chance to put that right at Forfar on Saturday.
“Forfar have a really settled team and they had good results in the Viaplay Cup (beating Cowdenbeath, Montrose and Arbroath).
“Their manager (Ray McKinnon) has them well-drilled and everyone knows their jobs.
“They are tough opposition and I think they will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season – but this is an opportunity for us to show what we can do.
“We want to go and get points on the board before we get to the tie next week.
“We’re still working hard to improve the team, but we don’t want to be playing catch-up. We want to be in the pack and pushing.”
A knee injury kept Draper out of action on Saturday, so he will make a late call on whether he will play at Station Park, while he was heartened to see Jake Dolzanski and Rory MacEwan each get 45 minutes on their returns against Stranraer. Both should be in the travelling pool for Forfar.
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