Elgin City 2 Dumbarton 0: Season's first victory for Black and Whites
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ELGIN City have picked up their first League Two victory of the campaign after beating previously-undefeated Dumbarton 2-0 at Borough Briggs.
Goals either side of half-time from loanees Connall Ewan and Liam Harvey secured an important three points for the Black and Whites on new manager Barry Smith's home debut.
Smith said: "I've got to give credit to every single one of the players, including the guys that came off the bench, for their work rate, effort and discipline in their position.
"We didn't give away a lot of chances. We had a few last-ditch tackles but that is what defenders are there for. I'm delighted with the clean sheet.
"We know Dumbarton are a good team and we knew we were going to be under pressure, but the boys withheld that pressure and stuck to their task.
"We got two good goals and we had a couple of other half chances. Hopefully the fans went away happy with a victory and we can get them back to the next home game."
Elgin started the game with just three outfield substitutes available – including a half-injured Ben Barron – on the bench, with Ross Draper out injured and Matthew Wright sick.
After a relatively evenly-matched start, the first big opportunity fell to Dumbarton striker Ross MacLean on the quarter hour mark, but he sliced just wide from 12 yards.
The visitors should have taken the lead on 34 minutes. A good advantage played by referee Ryan Lee allowed Carlo Pignatiello to run at the City defence and slide Dale Hilson through, but the forward's effort drifted an inch wide of goal.
Three minutes later and Elgin took advantage of their visitors' missed chances. Connall Ewan rose above everyone else to head home Russell Dingwall's corner at the back post.
The same combination almost provided another goal for City just before the half-time whistle, but this time Ewan's header, on the stretch, flew over the crossbar.
Into the second half and the first couple of chances fell the way of visiting centre-half Matthew Shiels, who nodded wide from a corner and then saw a headed effort cleared away by Rory MacEwan.
A stunning first Borough Briggs goal for Liam Harvey doubled Elgin's advantage on 64 minutes. Ryan MacLeman fed the ball to him 25 yards from goal, in line with the corner of the box, and he let fly, finding the top right-hand corner.
Dumbarton struggled to react to going further behind and caused little threat late on as Elgin saw out a convincing 2-0 victory late on.
Goalscorer Harvey said: "I just remember getting the ball and nothing else was on so I hit it and it's gone in the top corner, so I can't complain.
"The manager told me at half-time whenever I get within 20 or 25 yards to have a go – if you don't buy a ticket you won't win the lottery. It was good to get a first goal in front of the home crowd.
"My mum and my granny and granda were down so it was good to score in front of them, and I know a lot of people in the crowd, so that makes it a bit more special."
Next up for Elgin is a trip to Clyde, who, like Elgin were today, will be looking for their first win of the League Two campaign on Saturday.
Smith added: "It's brilliant, winning, but there's a lot of hard work still to go. The fans saw a team that was all out for the win and the challenge is to do that again next week.
"We don't look any further than the next game. It's important to give that performance again and see where it takes us.
"There are no easy games in this league but we will go down to Clyde to win."
Elgin City: McHale; Cooney, Dolzanski, McKenzie, Ewan, Taylor (Cairns, 76); MacEwan, Dingwall, Cameron, MacLeman (MacInnes, 86); Harvey.
Unused subs: Hoban (GK), Barron.
Dumbarton: Long; Durnan, Crichton, Shiels, Pignatiello, Malcolm (T.Wallace, 68), Blair (Orsi, 60), Young, Gray (Byrne, 75), MacLean (R.Wallace, 68), Hilton (Ruth, 60).
Unused subs: Broun, Wilson Lynas, Vata.
Referee: Ryan Lee
Attendance: 677
