Edinburgh City must rediscover mojo, admits Alex Harris

Heavy cup defeat and shock league loss weigh heavy

Alex Harris admits it’s crucial that Edinburgh City get back on track after a couple of chastening defeats halted their mid-winter momentum.

The League Two title chasers had won five games in a row before losing their last league match at home to Queen’s Park a fortnight ago and then being crushed 5-0 by Premiership side Hamilton Accies in a demoralising Scottish Cup tie last weekend.

Harris feels it is imperative that his side respond with a victory at Stenhousemuir tomorrow. “We’ve not had too many losses this season so we’re desperate to get back at it and get back on track after losing two in a row,” the former Hibs midfielder told the Evening News.

Alex Harris takes on Jamie Todd of Cowdenbeath

“We’re disappointed with the way last weekend went. We weren’t expected to win against Hamilton so it was different to most of our other games this season in that sense.

“But we were still disappointed with the performance and the scoreline.

“After being 3-0 down at half-time, it was always going to be hard for us to get back into it. Hamilton’s quality shone through but we felt we could have done better for the three goals in the first half.

“There’s three leagues difference between us and their quality shone through on the day. They were winners by a mile. Against Queen’s Park it was a 45-minute performance that let us down. We were 1-0 up at half-time but we had a poor second half. We know we’re better than that and we need to put it right this weekend by getting back to winning ways.”

City had closed to within two points of leaders Cove Rangers after their recent form surge but the gap is now back to within five points. The Aberdeenshire side have also strengthened their hand by signing Rory McAllister, a lethal striker who has plundered more than 200 goals in Scotland’s lower leagues.

“There’s pressure on us this weekend,” admitted Harris. “But at the same time we’re second in the league and we’ve generally been written off as title contenders since Cove beat us on the opening day.

"We’ve never actually been top of the league. The boys who were here last season had the pressure of being top of the league and having teams trying to catch them whereas this season we’ve been trying to catch Cove.

“We’ve generally done well and gained a lot of points so far so we just need to put pressure on ourselves to try and continue that. If Cove keep winning there’s nothing we can do.

“McAllister’s a good signing for them as he’s proven at this level. I’ve never played against him myself but his goal record speaks for itself. We know we can beat them on our day. We’ve just got to try and pick up as many points as we can and try and capitalise in the games we still have to play against them.”