The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Vital point as Elgin fight to avoid drop
E2 2
lgin City edged a point closer to League Two survival after a battling 2-2 draw with Spartans at Borough Briggs.
A double from visiting striker Blair Henderson was cancelled out by efforts from Brian Cameron and Ryan MacLeman as the spoils were shared.
City assistant manager Stefan Laird felt a point apiece was reasonable, despite the visitors’ leveller coming after a controversial penalty award.
Laird said: “On the balance of the game, a point is probably a fair result.
“Obviously it’s not a penalty, but some go for you and some go against you.
“We have had an opportunity to clear the ball twice and haven’t, so we allowed ourselves to go into that situation.
“Spartans had some other chances where they should have scored when we let them in, so we have no complaints with 2-2. It’s definitely a point gained.”
Spartans had the first chance when Bradley Whyte’s goalbound effort was blocked in the first minute, with Elgin’s first opening coming in the third minute when Robert Jones fired over.
Marc McNulty went close for the visitors when he sent an effort just wide on 22 minutes, 10 minutes before Brian Cameron’s shot flew a yard over the bar at the other end.
Visiting striker Henderson opened the scoring in the 34th minute when he found himself free in the box and slotted neatly past Elgin keeper Tom McHale.
Elgin started the second period with more purpose and Keith Bray – who came on as a first-half substitute for the injured Michael Dangana – fired wide from 20 yards.
The scores were levelled
just seconds later when, from a similar distance, Cameron rocketed in a shot which found the top righthand corner.
Elgin kept pushing and completed the turnaround before the hour mark.
MacLeman took a couple of players on and fired in an effort from the edge of the box which nestled into the bottom corner.
The visitors were handed a chance to level the contest in the 65th minute when McNulty was knocked over in the box by a combination of City defenders.
Henderson stepped up and sent Tom McHale the wrong way to grab his second of the game and level the scores at 2-2.
The visitors had the better of the late chances.
McNulty was again involved five minutes from time as he took on a number of home defenders before firing a yard over the top from six yards.
Jamie Dishington almost grabbed a winner in stoppage time, but his effort after a nice through ball could only find the side netting.
Laird added: “We were poor in the first half so to come back and put in the second-half performance that we did was good.
“Any point at this stage of the season is a good point.
“The boys were excellent second half and they have got to continue that for the next four games because it will be a real fight down there and there will be a few surprises in store, I’m sure.”