Elgin City manager Allan Hale says he will take criticism for team’s losing run and urges Black and Whites support to lay off the players in quest for promotion from William Hill League 2
Point the finger of blame at me for Elgin City’s run of defeats is the message from manager Allan Hale.
An out-of-sorts City lost 1-0 at home to Forfar Athletic on Saturday, with the result helping former Elgin boss Jim Weir’s side climb off the bottom of the League 2 table.
It was the Black and Whites’ fifth consecutive loss, but Hale is determined to deflect any criticism off his team and on to himself in the quest to turn things round.
He admitted his team is lacking confidence and revealed to fans shouting for star striker Kane Hester to come on as substitute that the player has been carrying an injury since his return to Borough Briggs.
“We can't feel sorry for ourselves,” Hale said. “We're in a fight now and we need to keep working hard.
“I'm the manager so it's all on me. I'm the one that's responsible for the results.
“If the fans are going to criticise anyone then I don't care if they shout at me. I'm big enough and ugly enough to take that and I recognise that's part of the game.
“They've got to stay behind the players because the players need them and they need them to be positive which they're not doing at the moment.
“But it'll come again once we get the win.
“The supporters should point the finger at me and we'll deflect from the players, of course we will because I'll always protect them.
“What they've given me since I've been here, I can't question that but this is the period where we need them to do that a little bit more.”
City fans were surprised to see record signing Hester on the bench against Forfar, but Hale revealed for the first time that the player arrived at Borough Briggs in January carrying an injury and isn’t fit to play right now.
“Kane came in and didn't disclose he had an injury until he was in the door. He's injured, he shouldn't even be playing and it's very obvious that he's injured because he can't move.
“So you've got a striker that can score goals that you have to play on the bench because he's only fit enough to play 20 minutes.
“I don't care what the supporters are shouting in terms of he should be starting. They don't know the diagnosis of players' injuries and we do. That's why we're here.”
Hester has been carrying a hip problem for the past few months, but felt he was getting over the injury when he scored twice against Bonnyrigg Rose in his third game back - but the problem has flared up again.
Hale will rally his troops again for Tuesday night’s home match against Spartans, who are creeping closer to City in the battle to make the top four and the play-offs.
“We need to be better on the pitch, it's as simple as that. The performances of the last three games in particular, from an attacking point of view, just haven't been good enough.
“There's no confidence, there's no fluency. We didn't deserve anything out of the game and if it wasn't for Aidan (goalkeeper Glavin), it would have been a heavier margin as well.”
Adding to Hale’s problems, full back Lyall Booth limped off with an injury and fellow defender Kyle Girvan will be suspended on Tuesday after being sent off in Saturday’s defeat.
