Gavin Price says Elgin City need to be more ruthless as the Borough Briggs side prepare to take on cinch League Two leaders Kelty Hearts who beat holders St Johnstone in a Scottish Cup shock on Saturday
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ELGIN City will need to make the most of their chances when they take on Scottish cup shock troops Kelty Hearts tonight.
So says City manager Gavin Price, who is eager to see his team extend their five-match unbeaten run.
League Two leaders Kelty are well on course to win the title in their debut SPFL campaign and their star-studded squad pulled off the greatest result in the Fife club's history at the weekend.
A famous 1-0 win over Premiership visitors St Johnstone courtesy of Kallum Higginbotham's extra time goal hit all the headlines and earned Kelty a trip to St Mirren in the last sixteen of the cup.
Price knows his team faces a tough task in toppling the fearsome Fifers but is focusing on his own team's lack of a ruthless streak.
"From the possession we’ve been getting games I don’t think we’re creating enough clear cut chances and we are not scoring enough goals," he said.
"I have no issue whatsoever with the effort the boys are putting into it. But there’s maybe one or two things, about getting quality from the wide areas and filling the box properly.
In five matches since their last defeat, Elgin have drawn three matches and passed up some good opportunities to pick up more points and push further up the table.
A win tonight would likely see Elgin remain in eighth place but take them to within two points of Edinburgh City in fourth spot.
Price knows every chance they create against an experienced Kelty side will be crucial and they have to make the most of their openings.
"Are we getting enough goals from the midfield area or just relying on strikers like Kane Hester to score the goals and from set plays?
"We’ve got to take responsibility, wide players and centre midfielders get into that 18-yard box.
"There’s guys there that are more than capable of scoring more goals than they are at the minute, and we will work on that.
"It’s the final piece that’s really missing at the moment. For all the play we’ve had in numerous games this season I don't think we’ve converted enough.
There’s two or three games at home that would have seen us in fourth place if we had won when we should have. We are not killing off teams.
"We’ve got to take advantage of Borough Briggs. With the crowd behind us, it’s really important that we take advantage of that.
"It’s over a month now that we’ve gone undefeated and we just have to keep building on it.
"We now have Kelty, another home game and another one we’ve got to go and look to be really positive in."
Matthew Cooper and Brian Cameron are out injured for City.
Two new faces yet to make a competitive debut for the club are centre back Aldin El-Zubaidi and Aberdeen loan midfielder Kevin Hanratty.
Elgin held Kelty to a 1-1 draw in Fife in September in their only previous league meeting, with Higginbotham scoring a stoppage time equaliser for the home side.
Kelty defeated the Black and Whites 3-1 at Borough Briggs in the Premier Sports Cup in July.
