The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Boss happy after Elgin ‘come alive’ in second half to defeat Brechin
ELGIN 3 BRECHIN 0
Elgin City manager Gavin Price felt his team turned in a performance of two halves as they took grip at the League Two summit.
While he was satisfied by the overall showing, the Borough Briggs boss admits the first half was poor despite Brian Cameron scoring the opener.
The Black and Whites produced much better after half- time, though, with a Kane He s t e r double capping the allround improvement.
Price said: “We’ve kept a clean sheet and I thought the back four and keeper were excellent in how they defended.
“In the first half I thought we were just a bit under par, not moving the ball quickly enough and not really playing on the front foot like we are normally good at doing at home.
“But it is sometimes the second half when we come alive to be fair and we did that. We’ve won 3- 0, we are not going to complain that’s for sure.”
Elgin were denied a fourth- minute opener when Stephen Bronsky’s header from a Russell Dingwall corner hurtled towards the top corner only for Connor Barron to head off the line.
The home side did take the lead after 17 minutes, though. Conor O’Keefe spun his man and hit the byline. His cross was blocked, but fell perfectly for Brian Cameron to sweep high into the net.
A loose Brechin pass saw Cameron take possession and break to the byline. His delivery was met first- time by Kane Hester, but looped wide after 35 minutes.
Michael Paton and Matty Todd tested keeper Tom McHale at the other end as Brechin finished the half strongly, while Rory Currie dragged a shot wide on the stroke of half-time.
Elgin were gifted a second goal on 59 minutes as Dingwall was handed possession before making space to fire in a cross that was easily tucked away by Hester.
Smart Osadolor suffered a miss- of- theseason contender on 64 minutes when, right in front of goal, a few yards out, he fluffed the tap-in sideways to the keeper.
Moments later, though, Osadolor made amends by playing in Hester to net his second on 66 minutes.
Substitute Aiden Sopel twice missed great chances to increase the lead, skying the first and pulling the second wide.
Brechin manager Mark Wilson said: “Individual errors kill us. We are losing that first goal and finding it difficult to get back into games.
“It’s not been a great start, but we have to stick together and get through this bumpy period.”