ELGIN CITY 1 SHIRE 2

It may not have been the most convincing of displays but that will matter little in the final reckoning, as two goals, one early the other late, saw Shire move to the top of the Third division table.

The bit in between the strikes from Andy Rodgers and Dean Richardson saw Shire’s host dominate but their failing was a weakness in attack, although the Shire defence should take credit for a strong performance that restricted Elgin to just a few genuine moments of danger.

Again there were no surprises again from Jim McInally who, despite his reservations about last week’s performance against Berwick Rangers, named the same starting eleven, with Stephen McGuire and Simon Lynch partnering each other up front.

Elgin had injury problems. Former Shire favourite David Craig was one of the Borough Briggs players to miss out. They drafted in the chairman’s son to make his debut as part of a re-shuffled pack.

Shire, in the red change strips, kicked off and immediately made in incision down the right but McGuire couldn’t get on the end of Jamie Stevenson’s forward pass and the ball went behind.

After five minutes a quick break from Stevenson fed Rodgers down the left but his cross was blocked for a corner. Stevenson took the flag kick which was only half cleared to Rodgers who cracked the ball past keeper Gibson from just inside the eighteen yard box.

On the ten minute mark Paul Hay first timed a pass to Lynch who raced in behind the Elgin defence. The former Scotland under-21 cap tried to square the ball to McGuire but the cross was cut out by the home defence for a fruitless corner.

A poorly placed pass from Elgin’s Paul Kaczan set McGuire fee, he threaded the ball through perfectly for Lynch but the striker wanted one touch too many and that allowed the defence get back to smother the threat.

Elgin had the majority of the possession in the first quarter but lacked the final ball to make an impact. Although David A. Craig’s rasping drive from 20 yards shaved the top of Jamie Barclay’s crossbar.

The home team got more dominant the longer the first half went on and Craig Dunn’s turn and shot from the back of edge the penalty box looked netbound but took a Shire deflection to go wide of the target.

In the closing few minutes before the break the Shire goal was under siege and only a desperate saving clearance from David King prevented Craig Frizzell for firing home the equaliser.

The interval gave Jim McInally the opportunity to speak to his players and try to put right the problems that had blighted a poor performance in the first period.

But the early moments of the second half did not see any real change in the pattern of play as Elgin won four corner kicks in the first three minutes after the break. But, again, it was only their finishing that let them down.

Frizzell was given a clean through on goal after dispossessing Michael Bolochoweckyj on the edge of the box but, despite being well placed, he couldn’t even force Barclay into a save and the ball drifted wide.

A minute later Stevenson had the ball in the net after rounding the keeper but he was offside when he received the pass into the box from McGuire.

After 58 minutes King swung the bal wide for Stevenson who played Tully in but the keeper made a fine  diving save at his feet. On the hour mark Lynch picked up the scraps after a midfield move broke down and fired in a curling drive which Gibson dived to pull off a spectacular save.

But City’s never-ending pressure on the Shire goal was always likely to pay dividends as soon as the visitors made a mistake. That happened on 65 minutes when two Shire men failed to stop Frizzell’s progress down the right and he was allowed to cut the ball back for Gunn to tap-in.

Shire decided to make changes and McGuire, Rodgers and Paul Weaver were all withdrawn and replaced by Derek Ure, David Dunn and Marc McKenzie. But that did nothing to alter the course of a one-sided game.

Elgin should have struck again on 82 minutes when Frizzell was clean through but was thwarted by a brave diving save by Barclay at his feet.

Just as the game appeared to be drifting towards a draw Shire pulled a classic setpiece to regain the lead. Stevenson’s disguised outswinging corner was met by Dunn on the edge of the box and although his shot was mis-cued Dean Richardson was in the right place to guide the ball into the net from the edge of the six yard box.

ELGIN CITY : Gibson, Dempsie, Niven, Kaczan, Edwards, D.A. Craig, Gunn, MacAulay, Frizzell, Nicolson, Tatters.

SHIRE : Barclay, Hay, Richardson, King, Bolochoweckyj, Tully, Weaver(Dunn 67), Stevenson, Lynch, McGuire(McKenzie 62), Rodgers(Ure 67).

REFEREE : G. Hilland

ATTENDANCE : 449.