Elgin City manager Allan Hale

Post match interview with Elgin manager Allan Hale after 1-0 win over Stranraer.

Transcript

00:00and it was a performance where we weren't at our best by any stretch of the imagination,

00:05probably one of the poorest in terms of on-the-ball ability, I think, and quality in the game.

00:10Even with 11 on the pitch, you know, I thought we were just quite careless in position.

00:17Things are stacked against us a wee bit at the moment as well.

00:20I mean, the volume injuries that we have at the moment, I've never seen anything like it.

00:24And to say that we're stretched beyond belief would be an understatement.

00:28And even, you know, Desjardins came off the bench and probably shouldn't have made the squad.

00:33And I think had we had more bodies, he wouldn't have even been in the squad.

00:37And there's a couple of players on the pitch that have been carrying illness and injury.

00:42So, yeah, we're really stretched.

00:45And you can see the fatigue that was in the players.

00:49I think even in the early stages of the game, we had extra time last week.

00:53And we went extremely light in training this week,

00:56just to make sure that we had enough energy to compete in the game.

00:59And, yeah, as I said, you know, we then get Daishon injured on Thursday at training.

01:05And, you know, Ryan's then pulled out this morning because he's had a setback from his previous injury.

01:10And it's left us, you know, really, really stretched.

01:13But the players deserve an enormous amount of credit because it was a really difficult game.

01:17I thought Sunar were really good, asked a lot of questions of us.

01:23But that last half an hour, well, that's twice this season that we've played a lot of time.

01:29You know, we are a man less.

01:31And the way that we defend our box and, you know, the way that we broke on them on transition,

01:37I thought that moments in the second half was really good.

01:40But just the ability to get across the pitch and cover the spaces and,

01:44you know, make sure that we defend and play with that aggression that we needed to inside our 18-yard box.

01:48And then moments that we didn't, you know,

01:50that double save from Aiden with a free kick and then falling the corner was just absolutely outstanding.

01:55Two world-class saves from an outstanding young goalkeeper.

01:59But I cannot put enough praise on the players for how deep they are digging for this football club.

02:05And the supporters should be appreciating how hard the players are working and, you know,

02:10what they're giving for this football club.

02:11And it's only going to get tougher because the injuries are not subsiding.

02:15And, you know, all the injuries, unfortunately, are, you know, mid to long term.

02:19So it's, yeah, we're in a difficult moment in terms of the squad being stretched,

02:23but the players are giving us absolutely everything.

02:27And that was displayed in that last half an hour.

02:31So, yeah, delighted with the three points.