Elgin City boss Gavin Price says his side are ready for Betfred Cup clash with Stirling Albion
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Gavin Price believes Elgin City are ready to kick off their competitive season against Stirling Albion today, after rounding off pre-season with a draw at Inverness Caledonian Thistle last weekend.
City drew 1-1 with the Championship side at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday, in what was their final friendly ahead of today's Betfred Cup group stage match against fellow League Two side Stirling.
It will be seven months to the day since City last played a competitive game – against Cowdenbeath at Borough Briggs – by the time the match kicks off but, while trying not to get ahead of himself, Price is pleased with the effort his squad have put in over pre-season.
“Based on Saturday’s performance I’d say we are ready,” he said.
“We are still looking for maybe another player if we can just to bolster the squad, but I’m pleased with what I saw in Inverness.
“We are looking okay, but pre-season is pre-season. The real stuff starts against Stirling.”
Saturday’s match reached half-time goalless in Inverness, before Kane Hester gave City a second-half lead. Nikolay Todorov equalised for the hosts midway through the second half as the game ended 1-1.
The result was particularly pleasing for Price after his side were beaten 7-3 at Borough Briggs by the same team just a week earlier.
He added: “The 7-3 game was a wake-up call in terms of the sloppy goals we conceded, but I’m very pleased with what the players did on Saturday.
“I thought it was night and day from us in our shape and, in our defensive performance, we looked far more solid as a team.
“We looked a far more stubborn team to break down and conceded far fewer chances, but I was also pleased with the fact we achieved that without losing too much from our attacking game, which has been good all pre-season.
“We have taken chances in every match and scored a lot of goals.
“We managed to do both parts on Saturday, which is encouraging. We have players of pace in the team who can hurt the opposition.
“It is only one game though, we have got to do it when it really matters.
“But it felt more like we approached that as a cup tie, and that’s what we need to do against Stirling Albion.”
Stirling come into the match after losing their first group game 2-1 against Arbroath.
While excitement is building for the competitive return, there will be one big thing missing tomorrow: the fans.
Price added: “I’m really looking forward to the match, but it is just disappointing we won’t have supporters because that’s what we play football for at our level.
“People are the lifeblood of clubs like Elgin City and we just have to hope that it doesn’t go on too long because we play our football for them.”
