WATCH: The disputed penalty that handed Elgin City defeat at Forfar as manager Allan Hale questions teams mentality and steps up pursuit of more signings
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A week after being awarded a last minute penalty to beat Stranraer, Elgin City were on the receiving end of a last-gasp spot kick decider at Forfar.
Leading 1-0 with 20 minutes to go and on course for a first away win of the season, City conceded twice including a stoppage time penalty award which was hotly disputed by the visitors.
Brian Cameron appeared to win the ball with a tackle which the referee deemed to be two-footed and sent off the Elgin veteran, before Forfar converted the kick to snatch their first home victory of the campaign.
"I didn’t think at the time it was a penalty and having watched it back, I’ve not been convinced to change my mind," said City manager Allan Hale.
"These things balance themselves out over the course of the season. If you look at the week before, we got a penalty that some people said was and some people said wasn’t, so I don't want to dwell on the decision too much."
Watch match highlights below on Forfar Athletic's youTube channel.
Hale preferred to analyse his team's performance and was critical of how they performed in the second 45 minutes.
"I thought our second half performance didn’t merit enough for us to take anything other than possibly a point from the game and I would rather focus on that, than questioning refereeing decisions.
"It’s that Achilles Heel, it’s a mindset thing and I’ve talked about that a few times since I’ve come in. When we are under a bit of pressure, there’s a habit of wanting to retreat and sit in and defend and absorb the pressure.
"Sometimes you have to do that in games but I don't want our team to play that way. It’s something we need to keep working with the players to improve on.
"The contrast from the first half to second half performance was a big drop and that was disappointing."
City led through a well-struck Ross Draper goal on 36 minutes, before two goals by Forfar debut boy Russell McLean turned the contest.
"In the first half we did enough to get ahead and we were quite comfortable at that point." said Hale.
"The fact that we didn’t deal with that pressure that was inevitably going to come, with us being away from home, was obviously the disappointing element of the performance.
"That and the fact that we couldn’t build up any sustained or controlled possession just because we were so deep and couldn’t really get out.
"You would have taken a point based on the second half performance and we probably defended well enough to take a point but we gave away the penalty and unfortunately came away with nothing."
The Elgin manager handed an immediate start to new signing Michael Dangana, who was brought in late last week from Hale's previous club Huntly.
Several Highland League clubs were desperate to secure the former Aberdeen winger's signature and offered more money than Elgin did.
"He was a key target for us and to be honest it says a lot about Michael that he turned down significantly better financial offers from other clubs to come to Elgin.
"The opportunity to play in the Scottish League was the key and he’s more than ready for that. He’s been so consistent over the past year-and-a-half at Huntly and even after we left he was still scoring goals and creating a lot and he was very much in demand, which highlights the ability and the quality of player that we’ve brought in."
Dangana's arrival came at the same time that former Aberdeen teenager Liam Harvey's permanent switch to Buckie Thistle was confirmed.
That freed up one loan slot for Hale, and with Ryan MacLeman's deal expiring earlier this month and Ross County yet to decide what they are doing with the player, a second loan is now available to the Black and Whites.
"Liam signed for Buckie and I think we kind of filled that with Michael coming in," Hale said.
"I still think I would like to bring in one more forward player, and there’s two or three positions I would like to strengthen. Whether or not we are able to do business to fill all three, I really don’t know.
"The plan is to bring in a couple if possible. I said ideally we wanted to bring in between four and six and we’ve got three in, so with another couple we should be OK from that point."
City have Connall Ewan from County, Blair McKenzie from Aberdeen and Dayshonne Golding from Cove Rangers on loan for the remainder of the season.
Cameron's red card will rule him out of their next game at home to Dumbarton a week on Saturday. They have no game this weekend as scheduled opponents Bonnyrigg Rose play in the Scottish Cup.
Deputy keeper Kyle King missed the Forfar defeat due to a viral infection and should be available next week, while Rory MacEwan is expected to return to full training after injury ruled him out of the last two matches.
