Elgin City fans can’t be at Borough Briggs for Saturday's League 1 play-off clash against Edinburgh City but they can still play their part in their club’s shot at promotion
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ELGIN City booked their place in the League One play-offs on Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over Queen’s Park, but couldn’t celebrate their triumph with their supporters.
Jubilant manager Gavin Price admitted the only negative part of his team’s success was having to do it in an empty stadium.
But the club still wants the fans to show their support to the players ahead of their biggest game of the season tomorrow, when they take on Edinburgh City in the first leg of the play-off semi.
Elgin are asking the Black and White diehards to send them short video messages in support of the team, which will then be shown to the players ahead of Saturday’s big match.
Club officials are also asking supporters to send in photos or videos of their homes, all set up for the match which will be available to watch via a live stream.
Fans can email or send material via WhatsApp to club secretary Keiran Carty on 07837445041, with prizes being given to the best displays.
“The one downside to this is that we couldn’t have the supporters at Borough Briggs because it would have been some atmosphere,” said Price.
“I’m pretty sure it would have been four figures (the crowd) and that’s the one shame. I hope the supporters all know that the boys have done that for them.”
Those fans will hope their team has hit form at just the right time of the season to bring a much-awaited promotion to Elgin.
Trailing their rivals by five points in the post-split schedule, City defeated Stranraer, Stirling and Queen’s Park in some style to finish in third place.
The one team they did not defeat in the four-match mini league was Edinburgh City, who beat them 2-0 last Saturday, and now faces them twice over the coming days in the quest to reach the final.
The capital side also won 2-1 at Borough Briggs in the first match back from lockdown in March, and have won all three meetings between the teams this season.
“Edinburgh has been a bogey team for us,” Price admitted. “But we have to get thinking that this is not over, we’ve got more to do here and we can’t be just satisfied with Elgin City getting to the play-offs.
“There’s more and you need to have that real focus now. Edinburgh is going to be a really tough game over two legs, but we are capable of doing it and we’ve got to believe we can do it.”
Price was Jim Weir’s assistant when Elgin last reached the play-offs five years ago, losing both legs to Clyde.
“It was a different squad, but that was a good squad as well. We went down to Clyde in the first game and we were unlucky to lose.
“It’s a great feeling to get into the play-offs, but when you go out in that semi finals, it hurts.”
Stranraer pipped Stirling to the final play-off place, and they now host Dumbarton in tomorrow’s other semi-final.
