Callum Crane wants Edinburgh City to take it to the next level

Callum Crane is confident City can find form

The Capital outfit have tad a topsy-turvy opening to the campaign, with promising Betfred Cup performances against full-time sides St Mirren and Dunfermline offset by defeats by East Kilbride and Albion Rovers, and a calamitous 5-0 thrashing at Cove Rangers on the opening day of the League Two campaign although followed up by a 2-1 victory at home to Brechin City.

Crane, who joined in the summer from Livingston, admits City need to start displaying more consistency to take them to the next level after last season’s third-place finish.

“We’ve had a few good results and a few poor results but overall I feel it’s been pretty positive,” Crane told the Evening News ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Stirling Albion. “Obviously we’d like to do a bit better than we have been but I’m sure that will come. I think the title has still got to be the target for everyone at Edinburgh City. The team finished third last year and I think the gaffer has improved the squad this year. Obviously we got off to a bad start against Cove but that was the opening day and we’ve since gone on and won our second game. If we win this weekend and results go our way, you could see us right back up there again.”

Crane admits last weekend’s victory at Ainslie Park was vital after their opening-day collapse in Aberdeenshire. “Last Saturday’s win was massive because we all knew the result against Cove wasn’t acceptable,” he said. “We had to go and put that right against Brechin and we managed to get the win. Brechin are a decent team who will have a point to prove after back-to-back relegations so it was a good victory for us. Hopefully we can build a wee bit momentum in the league now. We obviously got beat against Stenhousemuir in the Challenge Cup on Tuesday but I thought we played well and were unlucky to go out.”

After being unable to establish himself at Livingston last season, 23-year-old Crane took the decision this summer to start playing part-time football with City. This opportunity allowed him to team up with several familiar faces, including former Hibs colleagues Alex Harris and Danny Handling, and work under his ex-Easter Road youth coach James McDonaugh once more. “That was part of the reason this move appealed so much to me,” he said. “I just wanted to get back enjoying my football again so it was great that I already knew quite a few of the boys here. At the minute playing part-time is my full focus. If a full-time offer came in, it would have to be the right offer at the right time. I’m happy at the minute playing part-time and getting myself settled in a job. I’ve been working for the past few months and it’s going well.”

Edinburgh City will be hosting a Family Fun and Race Day at Bainfield Bowling Club this Sunday. Tickets are £10 for adults and £5 for under-16s, which includes curry for the adults and hot dogs for the kids. The first-team squad will be there to meet the fans. There will be fun races on the big screen, a disco and a Macron pop-up store with club merchandise. Email [email protected] for further details.