Kane Hester dedicates his hat-trick against Cowdenbeath to the returning Elgin City fans at Borough Briggs
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Around 200 supporters watched City beat their Fife opponents 5-2 in a heated League 2 encounter.
Kane Hester struck his first Borough Briggs treble and strikes by Aidan Sopel and substitute Conor O'Keefe started and finished the scoring for the home side.
Hester made it seven goals for the season and said having supporters back at Borough Briggs gave the team a big lift.
"It was massive having them back," he said.
"My last five minutes on the park I was breathing hard but just them being there, it gives you an extra five or ten per cent. They spurred us on today.
"That win was for the fans, all the money they’ve put in through the pandemic to keep the club going and all the support throughout the whole time, that was for them."
The match was overshadowed by a broken leg sustained by Cowdenbeath midfielder Ross Clarke late in the match.
It was a sickening injury following a challenge by Elgin centre back Stephen Bronsky, with Clarke stretchered off and taken by ambulance to hospital.
Referee Gavin Ross took no action against Bronsky and didn't even give a foul but Cowdenbeath were furious with the severity of the tackle.
There was a confrontation between both management teams and players on the touchline, leading to Cowdenbeath assistant manager Craig Easton being sent off.
Elgin assistant manager Keith Gibson said Bronsky had been traumatised by the injury but insisted it was not a bad tackle.
"Stephen is not a dirty player, he's whole-hearted," he said. "He is absolutely gutted, we’ve tried to console him as much as we could but he’s been through it as well when he had his leg broken against Ross County (in 2018).
"I think it’s a challenge Stephen has got to make, and it was a strong but fair challenge I believe.
"He has won the ball but it was his trailing leg that catches the lad. It is a challenge we would expect him to make, a hard challenge but it’s really unfortunate what happened.
"We will keep in touch with Cowdenbeath to see how he is but it’s clearly something that no-one wished to see."
Elgin keeper Tom McHale, fresh from signing an extended contract, was brought into action after just two minutes to gather Fraser Mullen’s powerful 30 yarder.
A minute later Josh Peters fired wide on the turn at the other end from Hester’s cut back.
Aidan Sopel sent Hester down the left on eight minutes and raced into the box to meet Hester’s cross, only to sclaff his shot wide from eight yards.
Cowden centre back Craig Barr had a header from Mullen’s free kick deflected past on 12 minutes.
From the resulting corner kick, Barr was up again and his header was blocked on the line by Matthew Cooper with the visitors appealing in vain that the ball had crossed the line.
Stephen Bronsky made an important clearance in the goalmouth midway through the half after his keeper Tom McHale failed to gather a high ball under pressure.
The Fifers had a loud penalty appeal rejected when Iain Russell went down in the area on 23 minutes.
Three minutes later City took the lead right out of the blue, and it was last weekend’s matchwinner Sopel who came up with the goods.
A towering header at the back post from Russell Dingwall's right wing cross floated past keeper David McGurn and went in off the right hand post.
Eight minutes later Cowden’s Ross Clarke went close with a volley from the edge of the box.
But it was 2-0 on 38 minutes when a Matthew Cooper cross from the right wasn’t cleared properly and Hester pounced on a loose header to steer home an angled volley.
Both City scorers were denied by keeper McGurn before the break, with Sopel’s left foot strike and Hester’s 30 yard looping volley testing the Cowdenbeath number one.
Four minutes after the break, great work by Sopel on the left led to a ball across the goalmouth which was just missed by the sliding Hester.
It should have 3-0 on 52 minutes when Hester burst down the left and crossed low for Peters, who hit the bar from six yards when it looked easier to score.
Instead it was 2-1 three minutes later, as Kyle Miller’s 30-yard free kick was misjudged by McHale and the ball spun over the line.
However City restored their two-goal cushion when Hester burst clear through the middle to score at the second attempt on 63 minutes.
Peters fired just wide on the turn for Elgin while Cowdenbeath sub Kris Renton headed past at the other end from a free kick.
It was game over on 77 minutes as Hester completed a superb hat-trick with a close range effort to punish more poor defending by the visitors.
There was a sickening moment on 81 minutes when Cowdenbeath’s Ross Clarke sustained a broken leg after a challenge by Bronsky.
The visiting team were furious with the tackle although no foul was given by referee Gavin Ross.
In stoppage time Cowdenbeath pulled one back through sub Cian Kavanagh but Elgin sub Conor O’Keefe netted in the fifth minute of injury time to seal victory.
Elgin: McHale, Cooper, Spark, McDonald, Bronsky, MacEwan (Osadolor 62), Dingwall, Cameron, Hester (MacBeath 81), Peters (Mailer 68), Sopel (O’Keefe 81).
Subs: Wilson, McHardy, Allen, Loveland, Kelly.
Cowdenbeath: McGurn, Mullen, Glass, Todd (Kavanagh 46), Barr, Miller, Taylor, Herd (Renton 72), Russell, Hamilton (Swan 46), Clarke.(Pollock 87)
Subs: Owens, Whyte, Trialist.
Referee: G Ross
