Elgin City boss Allan Hale is proud of his League Two side for pushing Premiership Aberdeen hard in the Scottish Cup.
Hale’s battling side lost 3-0 to Aberdeen at a capacity Borough Briggs in the fourth round clash.
Aberdeen triumphed via goals from Shayden Morris and a Duk brace but were made to dig deep to get the victory.
Hale was frustrated with key refereeing decisions he felt went against Elgin.
However, he has urged his team to use the performance against Aberdeen as a platform to become history makers by securing promotion to League One.
Hale said: “They are a fantastic group of players full of commitment and I’m very proud of them.
“I feel lucky to manage such a talented group and a group that give everything for each other and the football club
“That’s the foundation you need to be successful.
“For me, that was a typical Elgin performance.
“One full of effort, commitment, organisation, work rate and a belief to try and get a positive result.
“The players have left everything on the pitch and can be proud of their efforts.
“They need to take confidence from their performance against a top-quality opposition and the fact we matched them for long periods of the game.”
Bid to become Elgin history makers
Elgin City are currently sitting third in the League Two table, nine points behind leaders East Fife and seven behind second-placed Peterhead.
However Elgin City hold two games in hand over both East Fife and Peterhead.
Hale is confident they can push for promotion.
He said: “There’s a lot of football to be played and a lot of hard work ahead of us.
“However, I believe in this group.
“We’re in a really good position in the league.
“We’ve got 17 games to go, they’re massive games.
“We will try and take care of each game and see where it takes us at the end of the season.
“There’s a big carrot dangling in front of this group of players.
“They’ve got an opportunity to do something that this club’s never done before.
“Which is to get promoted and to be the first group of players that can potentially go on and achieve that would be massive.
“We know this team are capable of winning games because we’ve shown that throughout the season.
“We will try to get more complete performances that hopefully come the end puts us in a position to at least try and compete for that elusive promotion.”
Hale’s frustration at key decisions
Hale was left frustrated by three key decisions.
He insists there was a foul by Kristers Tobers on Elgin’s Dylan Gavin in the build up to Duk’s goal to make it 2-0.
He also says Duk’s goal, which was held by the keeper, did not cross the line.
And there was also frustration at the dismissal of Lyle Booth for a second yellow.
He said: “There were key moments of the game that didn’t go in our favour.
“The decision where Dylan gets in front of Tobers who pulls him down.
“The linesman’s screaming at him (referee) who is five yards away.
“He’s screaming in his earpiece. It’s a foul.
“The referee plays play on and then within 45 seconds, the ball’s in the back of our net and it’s 2-0.
“The players were adamant that the second goal wasn’t over the line.
“Had we got the foul, the second goal doesn’t happen.
“Then Lyle gets the yellow card for contesting the second goal.
“And then a few minutes later, he’s sent off with the second yellow.
“Then Aberdeen have the opportunity to go and kill the game, which they did.”
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