Elgin City player manager Ross Draper analyses his team’s 1-0 defeat to Stranraer in their opening League 2 fixture of the 2023-24 season.
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00:00 Right Ross, not the start you wanted to make to the season, disappointing match for you?
00:03 Yeah it was, I thought we were flat, I thought we didn't deserve anything from the game if I'm
00:13 honest. It's a tough one to take because we obviously had a good win in the week
00:19 and it's a tough one to take, it's obviously raw at the minute,
00:27 watch it back and dissect it a little bit more. It's a tough one to take day one.
00:34 I don't suppose you really travelled as the Stonora goalkeeper too much really,
00:37 which will be a disappointing aspect particularly in a home match?
00:39 No, yeah, said that to the boys, we haven't been in there final third enough.
00:42 Everything's a little bit safe, not taking responsibility and being the one that wants to do
00:52 it but plenty of stuff to work on going forward. Like I said, it's a little bit raw at the minute
00:58 but we realise it's day one, week one, just ass ourselves down and we go again for next week and
01:06 it'll be a better performance. It's a team that's still getting to know each other, of course there's
01:09 a lot of new faces, a lot of young lads in there and it's going to take time to gel isn't it?
01:13 Yes, yeah, listen that's the bones of it really and I don't mind that, I don't mind if things
01:21 don't click or things don't gel but I thought we were flat as a group, I thought it was,
01:26 you know, I thought they outworked us, I thought they were more streetwise and stuff like that so
01:34 yeah, it's a tough one to take.
01:37 What about yourself, you did plan to start the game yourself, what happened before match?
01:42 I just felt my knee warm up, yeah, that's why I didn't play in the week if I'm honest.
01:47 Yeah, I felt that so it was, I did a bit before the warm up, felt okay, thought maybe I could get
01:53 through it but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't good enough so Jake came in who's been out for a long
02:01 time so he managed to play 45 and Rory who's been struggling with his calf so yeah, we're
02:06 patching a team together so it's, you know, tough on the boys there but obviously in a couple of
02:14 weeks' time when we've got a full squad back, you know, we've got things to work on and we'll be
02:19 better for it but as performances wise, yeah, it wasn't a great one.
02:24 And you spoke about trying to bring in another face or two yet, is there still hope for that
02:28 in time for the next match?
02:29 Yeah, that's, obviously it was planned to get him in as soon as possible,
02:33 that should be done early this week and then another potential one or two later on.
02:41 It's, yeah, we would have liked to have done our business before now, we didn't want to go
02:46 into the season a little bit short, which we are, but that's how we chose to do it.
02:52 Maybe we have to take that, you know, the kind of court, you know, the result of that from not
02:59 getting business done early doors but like I said before, we did want to be patient with it and
03:04 pick and choose who we wanted in so hopefully two or three in next week or the week after.
03:11 We'll strengthen us and you know, Jake gets 45 minutes under his belt,
03:14 Coops is coming back as well so these boys will be better for it.