Elgin City defeat William Hill League 2 leaders East Fife at Borough Briggs to close the gap
Elgin City’s third consecutive 1000-plus home crowd saw their team close the gap on leaders East Fife with a priceless 1-0 win.
Defender Kyle Girvan’s 10th minute header was enough to give the Black and Whites victory at Borough Briggs.
Jake Dolzanski was back in the heart of Elgin’s defence, having missed the last 13 games since a 3-1 win at Spartans in October due to a knee injury.
Manager Allan Hale was also able to list familiar names like Ross Draper, Rory MacEwan and Ryan MacLeman on the bench, on the road back from long term injury.
Kane Hester was making his Borough Briggs return after debuting in the 0-0 draw at Clyde a week earlier.
It was also keeper Tom McHale’s first home league appearance since the 4-2 win over East Fife on the opening day of the League 2 season in August.
The Fifers arrived at Borough Briggs on a six-game winning run.
It was the home side doing more of the attacking in the early stages, and Russell Dingwall wasn’t far away with a flashing 25 yard drive just over on five minutes.
The Fifers’ first foray saw Reis Peggie force a good save out of McHale with a back post header two minutes later.
City made a scoring breakthrough on ten minutes with the same combination that earned their first goal of the league campaign.
Just as they did against East Fife at the beginning of August, the Black and Whites worked a good move and Lyall Booth floated the ball in from the left side towards the far post where Kyle Girvan was placed to plant a header inside Liam McFarlane’s post for his third goal of the season.
Dajon Golding then forced McFarlane to parry his fierce angled drive four minutes later as City chased a second.
Scott Shepherd had a goal ruled out for offside at the other end, while McHale produced another fine stop to repel Connor McManus’ well-struck volley midway through the half.
McFarlane blocked a tight angle Dingwall drive on the half hour and the East Fife keeper did well to save Mark Gallagher’s drive from the edge of the box on 38 minutes.
After the break, McFarlane continued his fine game in the Fifers’ goal with a fine stop from Dingwall’s effort from the left side of the box.
The keeper produced a brilliant stop to palm away Golding’s curler on the hour then get up to deny Hester on the rebound.
City were dominant but couldn't find that second goal, though equally they stayed alert to any visiting attacks.
Dolzanski headed wide as chances dried up, with the home side content to soak up everything thrown at them and hit on the break.
East Fife manager Dick Campbell’s frustration got the better of him as he marched down to halfway to remonstrate with the assistant referee, and he was shown a red card by referee Daniel Graves.
The win sees Elgin close the gap on East Fife at the top to eight points, with two games in hand.
One of those catch-up games arrives on Tuesday when City play host to Bonnyrigg Rose.
Elgin: McHale, Girvan, Cameron, Dolzanski, Booth, Dingwall, Hyde, Gallagher, Golding (Leslie 75), Hester, Sargent (Draper 84).
Subs: MacEwan, Cairns, Allen, MacLeman, McDonald, Macdonald, Taylor.
East Fife: McFarlane, Murdoch, Munro, Easton, Peggie (Jones 77), Millar (Norey 70), McManus (Lariff 84), Trouten, McKenna, Higginbotham (Healy 70), Shepherd (Austin 70).
Subs: Newton, Slattery, Fleming
Referee: D Graves
Att: 1001
