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Assistant manager Kenny Gilbert today pointed to City’s turnaround in fortunes last season as a method of gauging the current squad’s chances of success when it comes to crunch time during this campaign.
 Elgin endured a dreadful start to the 2007/08 season, but by April the team was chasing a play-off spot and had fans contemplating promotion. Ultimately, fourth place proved elusive, but Kenny believes the current crop of Black and Whites can go one better – even after last weekend’s shambolic 6-1 home defeat to Albion Rovers that leaves City bottom of the Third Division after seven games.
“It’s really up to the sixteen [first team players] we’ve got, the manager, and me to turn it round,” says Kenny. “We have the same players now as we had against [Second Division] Alloa Athletic in the cup a few weeks ago, where for 80 minutes we played them off the park, so we’re confident we can turn it round. You have to work for a bit of luck, but, with work, the rub of the green will come
“I believe we’re a point better off than we were at this time last season. At the start of this season, our aim was the play-offs, and that’s still possible. We should’ve got the play-off spot last season, and we were worse off then than now, so we’re hopeful for this season.
“If we didn’t think we could do it, Robbie and I would let someone else have a try – there’s no point if there’s no faith.”
Pressure
Asked if he thought the players’ performances were affected by any pressure from the terraces, Kenny is effusive in his belief that pressure, if it exists, should never have an impact on the way individuals play.
“If the fans are putting pressure on the players,” he says, “it’s just something they need to live with. They’re not playing for a living, so if they can do their day jobs then can’t handle playing in front of 400-500 people each week and getting pressure from the fans, these are not the players Robbie and I thought we’d got for the team. You have to expect a bit of stick, and take the good with the bad.
“We trained at Dingwall on Wednesday night and the standard was magnificent. It’s fine doing it in practice, but when it comes to games it’s been a different story.”
Albion Rovers
Some observers of last weekend’s defeat vocally expressed their concern at the management’s choice of tactics, most notably the positioning of defenders Mark Nicolson and David Niven. The two have figured as right-back and centre-back most commonly for Elgin, but switched positions against Albion Rovers. Nicolson was at fault for Albion’s opening goal, and Niven was sent-off for retaliating.
“Mark and David have played in those positions already this season,” said Kenny. “These two guys, and several more in the team, are versatile, and that can only be a good thing. Obviously on Saturday, though, Mark gave away the first goal. I don’t think it was anything to do with the line up, but when a centre half plays the ball across the box and their centre forward gets it, you’re always going to have problems.”
In attempting to explain the embarrassing scoreline – City’s record home defeat in the league since admission to the SFL in 2000 – Kenny points to the pace of Albion’s lethal attacking threat.
“We were up against Albion Rovers, the same boys we did well against last season when we had a few great games with lots of goals,” says Kenny. “They given us the biggest run around we’ve had all season – and we’ve played better teams – with their pace up front.”
On paper, it would appear as though City – with just one win and one draw from six games before kick off at Borough Briggs last Saturday – had succumbed to sheer frustration, resulting in three red cards and, subsequently, six goals conceded. Kenny, though, insists that the dismissals were borne out of nothing other than a series of unfortunate events.
“They were pretty spread out, apart from me and Craig [Campbell] within ten minutes of each other, so I don’t think you could say that they were attached,” says Kenny. “The guy has caught David [Niven] on the neck and he’s lashed out, so that [red card] was fair enough. Craig’s was harsh, but the ref has made the call, and it’s the first time I’ve ever been sent off without a foul being given against me. The ref was right there, and never called it at the time. When you’re down on your luck, though, these things seem to go against you.”
Robbie Williamson’s right-hand man claims that the players are showing the desired quality in practice, but so far have just been unable to translate their prowess on the training ground to competitive action.
“The boys in the dressing room after the Albion game were absolutely gutted,” says Kenny. “That’s two weeks in a row we’ve underperformed. Everybody was feeling a bit sorry for themselves. But Robbie and I have picked the guys up, given them a shake, and told them that when you get that jersey on nothing less than 100% is good enough.
The Players
Kenny Wright, City’s recent signing from Arbroath, partnered Darren Shallicker up front against former club Albion, and is still to open his goalscoring account for the club. Kenny Gilbert revealed that the number nine has taken time off work in an effort to become fully match-fit for Elgin and embark on the goal trail.
“Kenny’s one of these that’s needing a wee bit of luck – he needs a goal to spark him into life. To be fair, he’s come into team at a bad time, when we’re not scoring many goals. But, he’s working hard to get himself fit, and has actually taken two weeks off work to work on his fitness.”
Two relatively new faces in the City line-up this season are midfielder Ally Macdonald and striker David Allen. Kenny expressed admiration for the way both have settled in, and promised better to come.
“Ally Macdonald was at ICT last season and was released. He had a back operation in the close season, so he’s only recently started to play for us. He’s been a revelation, though – Saturday apart, where he looked lost – and he’ll be a good player for us in future.
“David, on the other hand, is just a young lad. On Saturday against Albion [when he appeared as a substitute] he maybe didn’t know which position he was in, because he came on when we had nine men and we soon went down to eight. He obviously lacks match practice, because he lives in Golspie and it’s too far to come to play for the youth team, so he’s a member of the first-team squad and we have high hopes for him.”
Despite Allen experiencing a testing time against Albion, during which he was unable to gain possession as often as perhaps he would have liked, Kenny pointed to a recent ‘bounce’ game against Ross County as proof that the youngster has what it takes to make an impact in future.
“If you’d seen the Ross County game [during the week before the Albion Rovers fixture], you’d have seen a young lad messing up County defenders Steven Watt and Danny Griffin, boys with Premier League experience. He was brilliant.”
City came out on top in the game on a wet evening at Dingwall, winning 2-1 with goals from Darren Shallicker and Craig Campbell.
East Stirlingshire
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s clash with East Stirlingshire, a 3pm kick off at Stenhousemuir’s Ochilview (where Shire are currently groundsharing), Kenny promised no less than fight from his players.
“When the chips are down, you’ve got to come out fighting, and we’ll definitely do that tomorrow. It’ll hopefully be enough to start turning the corner, and we know that the win will take us above East Stirling.”
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