Elgin City manager Allan Hale praises his team following the 1-0 win over East Fife.
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00:00 Three points again, back-to-back wins and a thoroughly dominant performance today?
00:05 Yeah, very controlled. The pleasing thing about Craig is that there's a lot of disappointed
00:13 bodies in the dressing room. Disappointed that we only won the game 1-0 and didn't take
00:16 advantage of the control that we had in the game and the opportunities that we had within
00:20 the game because we really created enough opportunities to maybe win by at least another
00:25 goal. But defensively as well, with the wind, you thought we would need to absorb a bit
00:32 of pressure in the second half but fairly comfortable. I thought two centre-backs dealt
00:36 everything, two full-backs I thought got out quickly, got tight to the wide players, didn't
00:40 allow them that opportunity to get crosses in the box. When we did, we got first contact
00:45 midfield I thought picked up every second ball and we carried a threat at the top end
00:50 of the pitch as well. So yeah, overall, good continuation of Tuesday night and another
00:55 good three points for us.
00:56 Yeah, and I think we've never had any doubt that the boys were on board with what we were
00:59 trying to do. They're a really good group, they listen, but they're determined and they're
01:03 hungry and collectively there's a really good spirit in there, which is good. And the fact
01:08 that they're disappointed with a 1-0 win is a good sign.
01:13 What excites me about it is that there's still so many good players still to get on the pitch,
01:17 still to get up to speed. Freddie's still to come in as well. That'll give us a bit
01:23 more depth in that midfield area as well. So yeah, it's exciting. I still think there's
01:28 more to come from us, particularly middle to final third, but it's four wins out of
01:34 six I believe it is, so it's not bad form. But we still know that there's a lot of football
01:40 still to be played.
01:41 And it's been a lurk to second balls and we've often stood here after games and spoke about
01:46 how the opposition have been a lurk to second balls, so it was good to see that fall on
01:49 the right side for us today. It was deserved going in at half-time, 1-0 up. I thought the
01:54 first 25 minutes, half an hour, we started the game with real intent on the front foot,
01:59 had an early goal disallowed. For me, I don't really see what the issue is. It's certainly
02:04 not offside. Sometimes you can wonder that you don't quite take advantage of those opportunities
02:10 that can come back and bite you. It's certainly second half as well with the opportunities
02:15 that we've had to go and put the game to bed at 2-0. We don't take them and you're thinking
02:19 all you need is one chance, especially with a win or one error, one corner. But not a
02:23 fair play that the players defended really well at the moments that they had to. And
02:28 as I said, another good three points for us.
02:30 You talk about that one chance, obviously Tom McHale had a very quiet game, very little
02:33 to do. He had a save to make with about 10 minutes left from the header, which was really
02:36 important.
02:37 Yes, and it was an excellent save. Really important as you say, goalkeepers are there
02:41 to do that job and at times they don't always get the credit when they pull off important
02:46 saves like that. It wasn't just today, 1-1 on Tuesday night, he pulled off an excellent
02:50 save at his near post. Tom's been really consistent for us since we've come on the door. It's
02:58 reassuring to know that you've got a shortstopper of that quality behind you to pull you off
03:03 at moments that you have to, obviously.
03:06 But yes, as I said, good to continue where we've been, especially from Tuesday. We're
03:13 making only one change. The risk is that there's a lot of fatigue in the camp. But I thought
03:18 we displayed the same intent and same energy about us that we had on Tuesday night. When
03:24 you do that and display that, it's no coincidence that you pick up positive results as well.
03:28 You spoke on Tuesday about picking off the teams above you if you could, looking upwards.
03:33 You went up a position to 8th and you've got an opportunity again on Tuesday night to possibly
03:37 make even some more progress with the match at Bonnyrig.
03:39 Yes, we've just got to take each game as it comes. The fact is that we're not talking
03:44 about a couple of wins puts you in this position. We're in that position now where if we win,
03:50 we're able to start climbing a couple of places. It's important that we just focus on ourselves.
03:55 We focus on still trying to extract a better level of performance. If we maintain a level
04:01 of consistency, then we're showing now that we're a capable side and we're capable of
04:05 picking up points. The important thing for us is to take the home form into our away
04:09 form and display the same level of performance that we're getting here and try and get the
04:13 same away from home. That will be the challenge on Tuesday night against a team that have
04:18 got a decent record against Elgin, I believe, down there. Another tough game. They're a
04:23 big side, organised, physical, good speed. We know it will be a challenging game but
04:28 one that we'll get recovered from and one that we're looking forward to.
04:31 Is Matthew Cooper's injury a concern at this stage?
04:34 Yes, I think it's a bit early to diagnose really. He planted his foot and felt something
04:39 in his knee. It's a concern when that happens. Owen Kearns, as you saw when he came on, I
04:46 thought he was excellent. It's reassuring that you've got someone of that quality to
04:51 deputise when we've got injuries and that's the depth that we've got to the squad now.
04:55 Hopefully, Cooksey is an important player for us so hopefully his injury is not too
04:59 bad. But as I said, Owen was excellent when he came on.