Elgin City 3 Stenhousemuir 1: City march on to third round of SPFL Trust Trophy after Borough Briggs win over Stenhousemuir
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Elgin City saw off League 2 rivals Stenhousemuir to reach the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.
Three changes to City’s starting line-up from Saturday’s draw with Stranraer saw keeper Daniel Hoban come in along with Brian Cameron and Angus Mailer, who had been suspended for the league match.
Hoban was relieved to see an early Adam Corbett overhead kick flash over the bar as the visitors held the upper hand.
City’s first chance saw Darryl McHardy - again playing in midfield - play the ball into the box and Kane Hester’s effort was heading for the bottom corner until keeper Jay Cantley dived full length to touch it away.
Stenny twice went close with Will Sewell glancing a header inches past then Euan O’Reilly cutting in from the left to force a good diving save out of Hoban.
City scored first against the run of play, Hester getting in behind the Stenny defence to force a save out of Jay Cantley then knocking home the loose ball on 29 minutes.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 when Russell Dingwall’s free kick on the left was met by Jake Dolzanski’s header over Cantley - a first goal in Elgin colours for the centre back.
Hoban was at full stretch to keep away a Niyah Joseph grounder on 36 minutes, a warning that Stenny were far from out of the contest.
Russell Dingwall brought the best out of keeper Cantley with a free kick in the closing minutes of the half.
Six minutes after half time a flowing Elgin move saw Lewis Nicolson show great persistence on the left and cross for Brian Cameron, whose pass to Hester was curled over by the striker.
It was 3-0 just before the hour thanks to a fine left foot finish by Russell Dingwall, his fourth of the campaign low into the corner from Hester’s feed.
Hoban was determined to keep a clean sheet, acrobatically tipping over Sewell’s header on the stretch on 62 minutes.
Ten minutes later the Warriors deservedly got one back through sub Tam Orr’s close range finish just two minutes after coming on.
Hoban, who won the man of the match award, kept out a late Matt Yates effort as the home side withstood late pressure for their victory.
Elgin: Hoban, Cooper, Nicolson, McHardy, Dolzanski, Anderson (Allen 76), Dingwall, Cameron, Hester (Young 84), Findlay, Mailer.
Subs: Cairns, Sopel, MacInnes, Antoniazzi, Sopel, MacEwan, McHale.
Stenny: Cantley, Walker, Higgins, Corbett, Jamieson (Crichton 46), Bryson (Orr 70), Anderson (Wedderburn 46), Forbes, Joseph (Yates 60), O’Reilly (Brown 60), Sewell.
Subs: Yeats, Brennan.
Referee: Alex Shepherd
Att: 411
