Angus Mailer says it's onwards and upwards for Elgin City in League Two after scoring the priceless winner at Stirling Albion
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ELGIN City had an unlikely goal hero in Angus Mailer as they ended 2022 on a high with a vital 1-0 victory at Stirling Albion on Tuesday night.
It was City's fourth league success of a difficult campaign so far, and pulled them seven points clear of bottom club Cowdenbeath and a point behind eighth-placed Albion Rovers.
Mailer, who bundled home the Black and Whites' goal from a 68th minute corner, says he is only looking up the table and still sees an opportunity to challenge for the promotion play-offs.
"I was looking at the league table last night and we are only five points off fourth position, which is a play-off place," he said.
"It’s tight in the middle of the league and we just want to look forward and work our way up. You never know what can happen."
Stirling seemed the right setting for Mailer to notch up his second goal in City colours, as he studied in the city for four years, close to his home base in Perth.
Now based in Edinburgh where he works, the 23-year-old has featured more in Elgin's starting line-up in his second season at Borough Briggs with 15 starts so far.
He was wearing the number 10 shirt at Forthbank but admitted it was a conventional central midfield position rather than a supporting role for striker Kane Hester - despite his goal.
"Being able to play in different positions has helped me get more games this season.
"After last season the gaffer didn’t know what position suited me best but he knows now I can play defence or midfield and whatever game is more suited to me, he can shuffle me about.
"It has probably worked in my favour as I have more starts and more appearances and hopefully that continues.
"I was wearing number ten so I didn't know where that was going to put me position-wise but I was just in the middle of the park with Rory MacEwan.
"Wearing the ten ended up getting me a goal so I’ll be wanting that jersey every week now."
He described the feelgood factor of being in the right place at the right time for Russell Dingwall's corner kick which led to the winning goal on the night.
"I am on the goalie for corners and Ross Draper knocked it down at the back post and I was just standing on the line. I felt it at my feet and did all that I could to just scoop it over the line, and that was it.
"Hopefully if I’m in that area when we get corners, I will get chances especially with players like Darryl (McHardy), Ross (Draper) and Coops (Matthew Cooper) who are good in the air.
"It was a good feeling even though it was just a tap-in."
Manager Gavin Price handed a first start to 17-year-old Fin Allen and also brought Mailer back into the starting eleven from the team which drew 2-2 with Stenhousemuir on Saturday.
Last weekend's patchy City display still earned a point courtesy of Darryl McHardy's last-gasp header and Mailer believes it could have been a turning point in his team's fortunes this season.
"I think getting that last minute equaliser on Saturday lifted us a wee bit and motivated us to go down to Stirling and achieve our aim of getting the three points."
There was some doubt about last night's match being played as electrical problems left the stadium in darkness until shortly before kick-off time.
"There were a lot of issues before the game with the floodlights, power failure and no heating in the changing rooms," Mailer said.
"But I think it just spurred the boys on and made us more determined to go on and win the game.
"It was a scrappy affair but it was good to get the three points and for me to get the goal for the team. I think we deserved it."
Elgin's next match is at home to Forfar Athletic on January 2 and Mailer hopes the good finish to 2021 can propel his club into a prosperous new year.
"It’s a small league of ten teams and so many clubs are swapping positions every week, so we’ve just got to keep motivated and determined to go out and get three points in our next games and see where it takes us.
"We drew with Edinburgh recently and we drew on Saturday so we were wanting to get a win because it has been a while, so it was good to get that three points.
"It’s a valuable three points and hopefully takes us that bit closer to catching the pack. We want to keep pushing forward in the new year.
"We’ve got a tough game against Forfar to start with but I think we are getting the full squad together some time next week, if there’s no issues before then, and get a good team session.
"Hopefully a week on Sunday we can get three more points at Borough Briggs."
