Elgin City face uphill task in play-offs after 4-2 home defeat against Annan while Cove captain hobbles off in Queen of the South stalemate

Press and Journal

07-05-2025

Elgin City boss Allan Hale still believes his side can be victorious despite falling to a pulsating 4-2 League One play-off semi-final first leg defeat against Annan Athletic – with all the goals in the first half.
The Moray club earned their place in the promotion play-offs after finishing fourth in League Two, as they bid to reach the third tier for the first time since joining the Scottish leagues 25 years ago.
After a bright start, Tommy Goss fired Annan in front before Ryan Sargent drew City level.
Quickfire goals from Max Kilsby and Tommy Muir gave Athletic a 3-1 advantage during a breathtaking goal rush.
Matters worsened for the Moray side when Muir headed the Dumfries and Galloway team further ahead, but Jack Murray's header on the cusp of half-time encouraged home supporters amid the crowd of 1,104. 'This Elgin side has character in abundance'
Hale said: 'The goals we conceded were uncharacteristic. We were too easy to score against in the first half, which is so unlike this team.
'We are much more organised and disciplined than that normally. We got spooked by the the physicality of their front two and the runners who came off from that.
'We didn't deal with their runners and a pull-back cross, which we spoke about before the game. Elgin City manager Allan Hale, left, and assistant Stefan Laird, Image: Bob Crombie.
'The response was really good and we scored the second goal at a good time just before half-time. We regrouped and, in the second half, did everything but score.
'It was a much better performance in the second half. We need to go there on Saturday and believe we can turn it around. It has been done before andd we'll aim to do it again.
'We just have to cut out the naivety we showed in periods of the game.
'This Elgin side has character in abundance and we're going to Annan to try and win the game.' Blown away in goal rush first half
Annan took the lead on 17 minutes when Gibson's corner from the left was met by Tommy Goss, who headed home his sixth goal of the season.
Five minutes later, Elgin were all square as, from Maciver's free-kick, Sargent was ideally placed to tuck away his shot.
The delighted home crowd were soon silenced as, one minute later, from another Gibson flag-kick, defender Kilsby headed home inside the box to make it 2-1.
Elgin had little time to recover before they fell further behind when Goss lined up Muir, who crashed home a drive past Glavin.
It was soon 4-1 for Annan as Aidan Smith's cross was headed past keeper Aidan Glavin by Muir.
In first half stoppage time, Elgin gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Murray pounced to power home a header from a Maciver corner. Elgin pressed for a third home goal
The next goal was going to be so crucial and both teams were giving their all in an attempt to find it.
A Maciver snapshot pulled wide just after the hour mark was the only noteworthy moment.
With 20 minutes to go, Elgin full-back Owen Cairns almost brought his team to within one goal as his 25-yarder crashed off the crossbar. Jack Murray scores Elgin`s second goal. Image: Bob Crombie.
The hosts pushed on from this and won a free-kick on the edge of the area when substitute Olly McDonald was brought to ground by Gibson. Maciver let fly, but his powerful drive was beaten clear by Smith.
Jake Dolzanski, Mark Gallagher and Kane Hester all had late close calls for Elgin, but Annan departed Borough Briggs with a two-goal lead intact.
So, it's down to Galabank this Saturday, where the overall winner of the tie will meet the victors from the East Fife v Edinburgh City semi-final, where the capital club hold a 1-0 advantage. Queen of the South 0-0 Cove Rangers
Cove Rangers and Queen of the South played out a stalemate at Palmerston to set up a Championship play-off semi-final shootout at Balmoral Stadium on Saturday.
After the goalless draw, Cove boss Paul Hartley said: 'We knew we had to come here and make sure we're still in the tie and we've done that.
'I thought we were very good, disciplined and our shape was excellent.
'They didn't cause us too many problems but we caused them problems with our pace but we were a little wasteful.
'But the game is finely balanced and it's a shootout on Saturday. Hopefully we can get a good crowd in.' Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson.
After a quiet opening ten minutes, the visitors had a great chance to open the deadline. Fraser Fyvie's defence-splitting ball found Mitch Megginson inside the box but before he pulled the trigger, Queens centre back Jack Hannah made a goal-saving challenge.
The visitors had clearly settled the better with Queens making several slack passes throughout the first period.
But Cove failed to punish the slack Doonhamers when Reece Lyon's pass was intercepted by Adam Emslie but his curling effort was palmed to safety.
Queens were dangerous on occasions, especially with the pace of wideman Liam Smith. He quickly whizzed past two Cove defenders before his low shot from the edge of the box was saved by Nick Suman's legs.
Megginson was causing the home backline all sorts of trouble. He muscled his way past Matty Douglas and burst through on goal. But Megginson was about to pounce but once again he was stopped by Hannah who made another sensational tackle to deny the frustrated hitman.
And Hartley's men suffered a blow two minutes before the interval when Fyvie had to be subbed off with an injury. Cove Rangers' Fraser Fyvie. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.
But the man who came on for the visitors had a glorious chance to get the first goal on the hour mark. Emslie found Declan Glass inside the box and fired a shot that looked destined for the top corner but Stewart did well to palm over the bar.
Then Megginson finally got the better of his nemesis Hannah but couldn't get his volley from eight yards on target.
Suman had little to do in the second half until making a brilliant stop to deny Kai Kennedy's 25-yard free-kick. He was called into action seconds later but this time it was a more comfortable stop to deny a tame Lyon header.
On the injury to captain Fyvie, Hartley said: 'Fraser was touch and go before the game, he hasn't trained much. He had a knock on his ankle and he felt it again in the first half. We had to take the risk to play him but he's now a major doubt for the second leg.'