McHale still positive as Elgin left seeking victory over Spiders

Elgin City’s hopes of taking part in the end of season play-offs now rest on a knife-edge after a 2-0 defeat by fellow promotion contenders Edinburgh City at Ainslie Park.

City now sit in fourth place, one point behind Stirling Albion and level with Stranraer.

As all three teams have the same goal difference, everything will now depend on the outcome of tomorrow night’s fixtures, with Elgin looking to secure a positive result when they host champions Queen’s Park at Borough Briggs.

Goalkeeper Tom McHale, who produced a series of excellent saves to prevent a lively Edinburgh side from adding to their two-goal margin of victory, is well aware of the magnitude of the situation in which he and his team-mates find themselves.

“It was a tough shift out there today,” he said in the wake of the Ainslie Park defeat.

“It was a tough result for us to take but if you’d told us three weeks ago that we’d still be in contention on the last day of the season then we’d have snatched your hand off.

“There’s been a lot of travelling for us recently – its part and parcel of the game but it does take its toll.

“Some of the lads were back to work straight after the trip to Stranraer and then back for another game the following day.

“Playing three games in five days is unknown territory for a lot of us but we have to take today’s result, use it to drive us forward on Tuesday and do what we know we have to do.”

Elgin are level on points and goal difference with fifth-place Stranraer ahead of the final fixtures with the Stair Park men hosting Edinburgh City on Tuesday evening.

McHale says a positive result against Queen’s Park is essential but feels his side can take encouragement from a point gained against the league champions less than a fortnight ago.

He said: “We put in a good shift when we played them last time and came away with a good result.

“Who is to say we can’t do better than that?

“It’s just a case of working hard, re-grouping and getting ourselves prepared for what will be a massive game.”

Elgin’s task on Saturday was magnified when Edinburgh took an early lead after Josh Campbell beat McHale with a low shot after just six minutes.

Liam Brown then made it 2-0 seven minutes before half-time.

The visitors looked a livelier side after the interval but they didn’t test Callum Antell until the closing stages when the Edinburgh keeper held on to a powerfully struck shot from substitute Conor O’Keefe.

McHale added: “Losing an early goal is one of things we try to avoid but we’ve discussed it in the dressing room.

“We know what went wrong and we know what we need to do to put things right and to give us the best opportunity to qualify for the play-offs.”

Euan Spark takes on Danny Jardine and Ouzy See.