New Elgin City boss Barry Smith believes his side will take plenty of positives from their narrow 2-1 defeat by Greenock Morton at Cappielow on Saturday.
Liam Harvey struck after 16 minutes to give Smith the dream start in his first game in charge, though their Championship hosts responded with goals either side of half-time through Robbie Muirhead and Lewis McGrattan to claim victory and progress to round four.
City have endured a difficult start to their League Two campaign and currently sit second bottom in the table with only goal difference separating them and East Fife at the foot of the table.
Despite their poor form, Smith’s men put in a valiant showing and the new boss, who has had just one training session with his players, feels there is more to come from his squad.
“There’s a lot to work with there, I don’t like getting beat but credit to the players for sticking at it,” Smith said.
“We knew coming to Cappielow is always difficult, teams in the Championship don’t like playing against Morton.
“I’ve only taken one training session, the one thing I can’t fault the players for is effort.
“They worked their socks off, they were disciplined in their position which is what we asked them to be.
“We just have to be a wee bit better in decision making and making the right pass or movement – that’s something that we can fix.”
Elgin City team to face Greenock Morton ⚫️⚪️
TWO changes
Thomas McHale
Nathan Cooney
Jake Dolzanski
Ross Draper
Connall Ewan
Mitchell Taylor
Ryan MacLeman
Brian Cameron
Russell Dingwall
Liam Harvey
Matty WrightBench – Hoban, Barron, MacInnes, MacEwan and Cairns
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) September 9, 2023
The Elgin manager was delighted by the attacking move which led to their opening goal and explained it was something worked on in training.
Ryan MacLeman’s cut-back was turned home by Harvey who found himself free inside the box after an intelligent run by Matty Wright.
“We set up in a specific way that we thought could cause them problems and obviously we got the first goal that was down to something that we’ve worked on,” Smith added.
“It was something that we’d looked at in training, we have players who can get in behind in those areas.
“It was pleasing when you see that and that the three strikers all played a part in it.”
Smith will lead his side in the league for the first time on Saturday when Dumbarton visit Borough Briggs.
FULL-TIME: Greenock Morton 2-1 Elgin City
A win at home and progression in the SPFL Trust Trophy pic.twitter.com/XlGNKkIE8d
— Greenock Morton (@Morton_FC) September 9, 2023
The Sons have enjoyed a good start to the new campaign but the City boss insists his side will be going all out for their first win of the season.
Elgin’s last home league win was in April in a 1-0 success over Saturday’s opponents.
“We want to make sure that when we play at home we are winning games, so we’ll set up in a fashion to win the game,” Smith said.
“Against Morton, they had a lot of the ball but because we’re organised we made it very difficult and when you do that two divisions down, then it becomes even more difficult.”
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