Elgin City secured their first victory of the League Two campaign with a 2-0 success over Dumbarton at Borough Briggs.
Goals in either half from Connall Ewan and Liam Harvey earned City all three points as they moved up to seventh in the table.
Manager Barry Smith was pleased with his side’s efforts in what was his first home game in charge.
“I’ve got to give credit to every single one of the players for their work rate, effort and discipline in their position,” he said.
“We didn’t give away a lot of chances. We had a few last-ditch tackles, but that’s what defenders are there for. I’m delighted with the clean sheet.
“Dumbarton are a good team and we knew we were going to be under pressure but the boys stuck to their task and we got two good goals.”
Dumbarton had the first opportunity of the game when Finlay Gray’s shot through bodies was easily gathered by Tom McHale on 14 minutes.
A couple of minutes later Ross MacLean had a big chance for 1-0 but sliced a yard wide of target from 12 yards.
The visitors should have taken the lead on 34 minutes when Carlo Pignatiello played a defence-splitting pass to James Hilton but his one-on-one effort rolled inches wide.
Against the run of play, City took the lead on 37 minutes. Russell Dingwall’s corner to the back post was nodded home by centre-half Ewan.
Ryan MacLeman’s shot from inside the area was easily gathered by visiting keeper Brett Long as Elgin ended the first 45 minutes on top.
A minute before the break, another Dingwall corner, from the same side as the goal, was headed over from close range by Ewan.
Dumbarton defender Matthew Shiels had two chances from corners at the start of the second half – first nodding wide at the back post and then seeing his headed effort cleared away by Rory MacEwan.
It was Elgin who scored the next goal when Harvey thundered home a fantastic effort from 25 yards to make it 2-0 before the 65-minute mark.
The visitors struggled to react to going two goals behind, with McHale easily holding an effort from 12 yards by Michael Ruth as the game headed into the last 20 minutes.
A last-ditch tackle from Blair McKenzie denied Declan Byrne as he looked to charge through a gap in the City backline in the last 10 minutes.
Tom McHale had a nervous moment in the Elgin goal with five minutes to go, misjudging a long ball forward, but recovered quickly to scoop the ball out of the path of Byrne as City held on to win.
City are away to Clyde next, with the hosts yet to pick up a victory in League Two.
“We don’t look any further than the next game,” Smith added. “It’s important to give this performance again and see where that takes us.”
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