Highland ITFC

Hester generally gets the tug with around 15 or so left, so could see that being the case today with Smart coming on for him. Assuming it's on of course, as currently looking dodgy with thw wind apparently. Fingers crossed!

I see in today's P&J that I wasn't too far fetched with the above thought.

Proven goalscorer seeks full-time football ..... meet cash-strapped full-time Highland football club that could fancy getting a proven goalscorer without breaking the bank. Too far fetched?

Yup, heard that aswell! Hopefully he'll get pen to paper nice & early on a contract extension & put any uncertainty to bed. Could be wishful thinking though!

Reckoning 200 as a headcount at Huntly-Brora yesterday. Interestingly (well kind of) to see a decent travelling support, but a lot of the usual home faces / voices not evident. Hopefully just still in festive season holidays mode, & not deciding that they've seen enough?!

Yup, that's the one. Quality player - natural left back - that's highly rated at ICT & been in & around their First Team squad since end of last season, but with them now having most players back from injury, looks like they're looking to get him some game time. Would expect him to be well appreciated by the Elgin faithful. Also got the option to bring back our own 'out on loan' defenders if those current agreements end at the change of windows.

Just a query.....why would any club at SPFL level need to 'estimate' their gate? Surely everybody in the ground has gone through the turnstile, or is in hospitality, or is part of the two teams parties, so numbers should be known pretty accurately shouldn't they?

Will be the usual route of loans from higher clubs, which can sometimes pay dividends, & sometimes clubs just end up with a higher paid dud, aswell as seeing if Highland / Lowland / EoS leagues' best strikers can perhaps be tempted. Looking in the Highland League, whilst there's a few decent strikers who are probably now too old &/or settled in their work & relatively local part-time football lifestyles, youngers lads such as for instance Macrae & MacRae at Brora could easily step up in my opinion. They may of course get that opportunity with their current club, but is anybody knocking on Brora's door to see if a chat might be worthwhile? Scott Lisle at Formartine could be another.

Think there were over 1,000 at the first Elgin-Cove game earlier in the season aswell, & imagine those figures will be repeated in the further two league games, so definitely good for both clubs' coffers to be in the same division.

Rough headcount of 200 at Rothes-Huntly yesterday

Who were the five players missing. Can think of Bronsky, McDonald & Cameron. Who am I missing?

That's fair enough. As I mentioned in a pre-game post on this thread, it was the first time in a while that I'd been able to get to a game, so just calling it as I saw things on the day. Must have been some very poor performances recently though if yesterday's was 'much improved'. I know that I've previously seen the team perform to a higher collective standard, along with most players able to do better than they did yesterday, so hopefully it's an upward curve. I agree with Roberts & T&G re Sparky, as thought he was one of the few that were at or near the top of their game yesterday, along with Rory & Connor, although having the latter playing down the left does mean that he goes roaring past defenders with his pace, & then most of the time cuts back inside & slows things down & enables the defender to recover, rather than going to the byeline. The opening goal yesterday came from one of the few occasions when he trusted his left foot to put the ball in having beaten his defender. Would love to see him playing down the right, along with both fullbacks taking more opportunities to overlap & get crosses in, as there was very little of that yesterday, & consequently all opportunities, other than set pieces, have to be created through the middle or over the top of the defence, which an organised backline & midfield will find easier to defend than if getting in behind on a regular basis.

Thought Brechin struggled to offer much in the way of a threat. Neat & tidy at times in midfield, but that was about it. Elgin overall had that bit more quality, & pace like Hester & O'Keefe will always give any team trouble, but it was a very inconsistent performance across the piece, & from individual players. Not a huge amount of decent football played, with too many sluggish 5 & 6 out of 10 performances, & struggling to think of many players that you could say were 7 or 8. But heh, it's 3 points & other results broadly going well for Elgin aswell, so hopefully that will give a bit of confidence & impetus to proceedings going forward.

Getting to my first game in a while today, so will be interesting to see first-hand how things go. I recall the early season cup game down at Brechin when Elgin were superb going forward, but absolutely shocking at the back & it ended up 5-4 to Elgin. Can't see a repeat of that scoreline today, but as Brechin seem to have improved a little over their early season form, whilst Elgin are 'patchy' in theirs, perhaps won't be a surprise if the away side do manage to grab a point. Hopefully all three staying at home though!

True...forgot about him. That said, unless he comes back into the squad after his current loan period ends shortly, then as he's now based in Glasgow, I can't imagine that he'll be seen in an Elgin shirt again, & will be more likely to seek regular football down there on a permanent basis.

Thanks CC. Things have indeed changed, although would think that Elgin only having one fit & healthy entre back may constitute suitable circumstances for an "exceptional order".

That's what I thought T&G, but the two Cowden posters seem to think differently, so was hoping for some further insight from them.

So what's the current rule? Happy to be informed / educated by you clearly wise & knowledgeable Cowden fans. :-)

Why would that be? As I've always understood & observed the loan system, with the vast majority of loans the parent club can cancel it & recall the player if they choose to do so.

Bronsky supposedly off work sick all week, so perhaps not surprising that he wasn't on top of his game come Saturday. That said, if struggling for fit bodies at centre back, then why not recall the one that's on loan in the Highland League?

Rough headcount of 220 at yesterday's Huntly-Deveronvale game

Rough headcount of 140 at the Huntly-Brora game

An update from the club on the website overhaul which was mentioned / discussed previously on this thread - https://www.elgincity.net/?p=10465

Elgin looking to be something of a conundrum at present. For all the talk of playing great football, the goal-scoring exploits of Shane, & the league table showing Elgin with the 4th best 'goals for' & 3rd best 'goals against', the team currently sits marooned six points outside the playoff spots, so the sum seemingly being less than it's constituent parts. Haven't been able to make it to a game in a while, so don't have my own thoughts to add to these observations, so wondering what others that are going to games are seeing & thinking?

Seen him play a few times as an overage player for Elgin's U20s, & from those displays would say that he's what you might call a good old fashioned centre half. Talks a lot, loves a tackle, decent in the air, & OK on the ball. He was down the pecking order at Elgin due to better players ahead of him, but whenever he did get the odd opportunity in the First Team I don't think he let anybody down. Would say that he'd be a decent player at Highland / Lowland leagues level.