Elgin City held by Forfar Athletic in League 2 clash at Borough Briggs
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CONOR O’Keefe’s second half strike earned Elgin City a share of the spoils in a tough League 2 battle with Forfar Athletic.
City looked out of sorts in the first half and trailed at the break but an improved display after the interval earned a point.
An unchanged Elgin starting line-up from the 3-0 win against Albion a week earlier took time to settle, with Forfar forcing a series of early corners.
Visiting striker Stefan McCluskey was first to try his luck with an ambitious 45 yard effort with Tom McHale off his line but the strike went wide on eight minutes.
McHale then turned a low Craig Slater drive round the post four minutes later.
There was an injury blow for City when centre back Creag Little went off on 17 minutes to be replaced by on-loan Caley Thistle youngster Harry Nicolson.
Forfar’s good start was rewarded with the opening goal on 20 minutes, as McCluskey’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected past McHale.
The visitors chased a quick second and from keeper Mark McCallum’s big kick, ex-Elgin striker Matty Aitken beat the offside trap, forced a fine save from McHale and drilled the rebound wide of the target.
Elgin didn’t learn and a moment later a cross from deep on the right by full back Ross Meechan picked out McCluskey all on his own at the far post - fortunately for the home side his header drifted wide.
The only sniffs of goal City had during a lacklustre first half performance fell to Kane Hester with a harmless header at the keeper and a volley wide just before the break.
City brought Angus Mailer on for Rory MacEwan at the interval.
But just as they did against Albion a week earlier, Elgin were out of the traps quickly in the second half and equalised within 90 seconds.
Top scorer Hester provided the assist with a pass left into the box for Conor O’Keefe to find the net, possibly with the aid of a deflection.
Elgin got an immediate lift with captain Euan Spark surging down the left, feeding Hester who in turn teed up sub Mailer on the edge of the box but he dragged his shot past.
Darryl McHardy then had a header wide from a Tony Dingwall corner midway through the half.
Forfar were always a threat and Archie Thomas’ dipping 30 yard volley just cleared the bar on 78 minutes.
It got niggly near the end with a succession of yellow cards but neither side could find a winner.
Elgin: McHale, Cooney, Spark, McHardy, Little (Nicolson 17), MacEwan (Mailer 46), R Dingwall, Cameron, Hester, T Dingwall (Sopel 71), O’Keefe (MacBeath 82).
Subs: Lawrence, Allen, Machado, Peters, Hoban.
Forfar: McCallum, Meechan, Strachan, S Andertson, Munro, Slater, Thomas, Thomson, Crossan (Doris 84), McCluskey (G Anderson 74), Aitken (Shepherd 68).
Subs: Travis, Harkins, Irvine, Sanderson.
Referee: Peter Stuart
