Spartans, who had already beaten top Juniors side Pollok and Third Division newcomers Annan Athletic to reach this stage of the competition, could quite easily have been three goals ahead in the opening 15 minutes but careless finishing and good goa
lkeeping by Elgin's debutant Joe Malin meant Spartans failed to turn their pressure into a tangible return.
"We have only ourselves to blame for that defeat," moaned Spartans joint manager Sam Lynch. "Teams cannot afford to miss good chances in Scottish Cup ties and expect to go through. Basically that was a really good opportunity to get to the fourth round.
"From the kick-off Elgin City looked like a team low in confidence and I felt that if we could go ahead then their heads would go down. Elgin looked very nervous but we could not capitalise."
Spartans kicked off in perfect conditions with a 3-5-2 formation and immediately took the game to their higher grade opponents when Robbie Manson surprised their goalkeeper with a fierce shot which he could only palm down and the rebound fell to Nicky Walker only four yards out. However, his effort was clutched by Malin who had only been signed on loan on Friday from SFL First Division side Ross County. Seconds later Manson fired in a dipping cross-cum-shot which Malin did well to turn around the post for a fruitless corner. Then a Walker cross was deflected for another corner as Spartans completely overran Elgin in the opening five minutes.
A Manson cross was flicked on by Keith McLeod to Alex King who hit a tremendous shot from 20 yards which grazed the crossbar before Malin held a well struck free kick from Manson at the second attempt. Donal Henretty was only centimetres away from connecting with yet another Manson free kick as Spartans seemed certain to take the lead.
In the 15th minute came Spartans' first golden opportunity. Walker was sent clean through with only Malin to beat but his tamely hit effort from ten yards was blocked by Malin's legs and cleared. It was only natural that Elgin would eventually play themselves into the game and Liam Keogh hit a left foot shot wide before Spartans goalkeeper Chris Flockhart produced a magnificent one-handed save to deny Jason Crooks.
Kenny Wright, who played the first half with bright pink florescent boots, was thwarted by Flockhart before Daniel O'Donnell was given the first yellow card of the game in the 25th minute for a late challenge on Elgin's player and assistant manager Kenny Gilbert. A Flockhart clearance from a passback caused some concern when the custodian hit it off Gilbert only two yards from goal and the ball squirmed along the goal-line before Stewart Fowlie cleared the danger.
Spartans were generally guilty of giving the ball away although arguably the best chance of the entire game fell to Walker in the 33rd minute. Omar Kader slipped the ball to the pacey striker and once more he was left with only Malin to beat but again he hit a weak shot which the goalkeeper was able to divert for a corner. Walker then hit a 25 yard shot over the crossbar and a King shot resulted in another corner which Malin picked from the air with ease.
As half-time approached King was given a yellow card for persistent fouling.
The teams turned around goal-less although Elgin could consider themselves a trifle fortunate – but things were to change early after the turnaround. Firstly, there were two off-side decisions given by the assistant referee against McLeod which were borderline then Spartans conceded possession from their own throw-in. The ball was pushed forward and Wright managed to get himself goal side of his marker, Ross Archibald, and having dispensed with his pink boots for a white pair, hit in a screamer of a shot from 20 yards which flew into the top corner.
However, Spartans immediately retaliated and Walker was again left with only Malin to beat but for the third time he hit a poor effort with his left foot and the goalkeeper's legs prevented the ball from going into the net.
McLeod fired over a cross which Kader connected with only six yards out but his effort was directed straight at the goalkeeper. Henretty had loud appeals for a hand ball in the Elgin penalty box waved aside by referee Colin Brown before Elgin notched their second goal in the 62nd minute. A Keogh corner to the back post found defender Mark Nicolson and he rose unchallenged to head the ball powerfully into the net from within the six yard box.
At this stage the Elgin fans were singing "Bring on the Airdrie" in anticipation of their fourth round tie.
There was a flashpoint in the 74th minute when King tackled Wright and the first goal scorer reacted angrily, so much so that he was shown an immediate red card while King received a second yellow card and was subsequently also sent off.
Spartans pushed forward in search of a goal to bring them back into contention. O'Donnell drove through the heart of the Elgin defence only to be robbed by Paul Kaczan then Walker won a corner after a good run.
Spartans gave themselves a lifeline in the 84th minute when they converted the most difficult opportunity they had created in the game. A Manson cross eventually fell to Henretty almost on the bye-line but he somehow managed to hit the ball perfectly through a crowd of players and into the net at the far corner.
Elgin were then guilty of time wasting tactics and goalkeeper Malin must have been fortunate to escape punishment as he constantly frustrated the Spartans players and management with his slow movement every time the ball went out of play.
With time almost up Spartans still managed to spurn a further three clear cut chances. Substitute Dean Hoskins hit the side netting from a good position, Archibald sclaffed a six yard shot from in front of goal then O'Donnell, in time added on, was given a clear header five yards out but Malin again came to the rescue to palm the ball around the post and so went Spartans' hopes of snatching at least a draw.
It was a disappointing result as Elgin were no better than Annan who Spartans beat in the previous round and who themselves had defeated Elgin 5-0 only two weeks ago.
Walker, who might have scored a hat trick on another day, said: "Personally I am low in confidence at the moment not having scored since we beat Pollok and that was six or seven games ago. There has been no rhythm to our season because of the stop-start nature of it although I'm not making excuses. Elgin's goalkeeper was obviously out to impress and my finishing was not up to scratch. I know what I am capable of and it is much better than what I showed against Elgin. It was just one of these days.
"We conceded two bad goals as well, both from set pieces. We had a throw-in from which Elgin got possession, went straight down the park and scored and that's not the first time that has happened this season. Fair play to their striker because he picked his spot with a tremendous shot.
"Donal did really well to score from a tight angle then we had the momentum and went all out for an equaliser but it just didn't happen.
"I think it would have been a totally different game if we had scored in the opening 15 minutes because Elgin are not doing too well and I feel that they would have crumbled. However there is no excuse for the result."
Fowlie, the Spartans captain, added: "We created some early chances and should have scored although Elgin came back into the game and it could easily have been 2-2 at half-time. It was quite an open game and at half-time we were a bit frustrated because in the Scottish Cup you don't normally get loads of chances yet we had some good one-on-one opportunities.
"It was a high tempo match and it was impossible to relax. Their striker took his goal well but it was very disappointing to lose a goal from a corner in our own six yard box. That shouldn't happen but even after that we created three more good chances. If we were going to beat a Scottish League side then we had to take our chances and we did not do that and unfortunately it cost us the game. It was so disappointing but fair play to Elgin City and we wish them well in the next round against Airdrie."
Mike Lawson, Spartans joint manager, had the final word when he said: "I thought that we could have and should have won the game. Sometimes I am blinkered in favour of Spartans but both their manager and assistant manager apologised to me at the end of the game saying that we should have got something.
"The local press interviewed me and their first question was 'How did you not win that game?'. So maybe I am not so blinkered after all. We are hugely disappointed because normally when we play a team from the SFL we don't get as many chances as the opposition and you have to take them. But against Elgin we created far more than them although the bottom line is that if you don't put the ball in the net you don't win football matches.
"If you don't pick teams off they stay in the game and it becomes harder. We carved Elgin up in the opening 15 minutes and that set the standard for the rest of the game. At times we also did not pass the ball well enough.
"Overall, it has been a good Scottish Cup run with three away ties and once again Spartans have raised the awareness of both our own club and the East of Scotland League."
Elgin City: Malin, Nicolson, Kerr, Niven, Kaczan, Gilbert (Macdonald 46), Campbell, O'Donoghue, Wright, Crooks (Shallicker 63), Keogh. Subs: Hind, MacKay, Ridgers.
Spartans: Flockhart, O'Donnell, Fowlie, Archibald, Gerrard, Manson, King, Kader (Malin 66), Walker (Hoskins 88), McLeod (Devlin 80), Henretty. Subs: Woods, Smart.
The full article contains 1776 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
