Edinburgh City’s Graham Taylor explains why form dipped – but now he’s ready for play-offs

Graham Taylor is he ready to aid Edinburgh City’s promotion push after suffering a dip in confidence.

Graham Taylor has both eyes on getting Edinburgh City into League One

The 21-year-old winger was restored to the starting line-up for last weekend’s 1-1 draw at home to Elgin City following three consecutive second-half substitute appearances.

The former Dundee United youth player had been a mainstay in the City side this season, but was been overlooked in recent weeks by manager James McDonaugh.

However, Taylor is first to admit his form hasn’t been what it should be as the Citizens prepare to bring down the curtain on their Ladbrokes League Two campaign with a trip to Taylor’s place of birth to take on Stirling Albion tomorrow.

The Capital outfit do have the first leg of the promotion play-offs on Tuesday night and Taylor is hoping a strong performance at Forthbank tomorrow will see him given the nod by McDonaugh.

“I think my confidence had taken a bit of a dip to be honest,” Taylor said. “I’ve been suffering a bit with tendonitis in my knee and I was also doing joinery work which I was finding really quite tiring.

“I did enjoy the job and it would have been good if I wasn’t playing football. But the travelling between Stirling and Edinburgh every day was getting a bit too much. Some nights I was getting home at 11pm only to be back up for 6am the following day. I think I need my full eight hours.

“I’ve started a new job with the local council a few weeks ago and it’s just ten minutes from my house so that has helped a lot. My knee is getting there now too. I had the problem when I was at Dundee United a few years ago so it has been niggling me again.

“But the gaffer has been really good with me and it was great to get back in the side last week. As much as it kills you when you’re sitting on the bench, you are resting up. So, I felt quite refreshed last week and ready to go again in what is a big couple of weeks for the club.”

City require just a point this weekend to guarantee third place in Scottish football’s fourth tier. Should they achieve that feat, they will face a double header against either Clyde or Peterhead in the first round of the play-offs. If Annan, who are three points behind in fourth place but with a better goal difference than City, win at Albion Rovers and City lose, then the Capital side will take on either Stenhousemuir or Brechin [second bottom of League One].

However, with Peterhead in pole position to wrap up the league title tomorrow, Taylor is expecting a visit from the Bully Wee early next week.

“I’m really looking forward to the play-offs now but we have to take care of tomorrow first,” Taylor said. “We scored the first goal last week against Elgin but then took our foot off the gas. We can’t do that tomorrow. We want to put another three points on the board to set us up nicely for Tuesday. Stirling are a decent side and it’s the last game of the season so they will want to end on a high.

“I still think it will be Clyde we’ll play so if you look at their form since Christmas, it’s been nothing short of exceptional. But the play-offs are all about who performs on the day. We’re probably the side in the poorest form at this moment in time but these games are a lottery. It’s got a real cup final feeling about it.

“We still believe we can finish the season with promotion. If you look at League One for next season it looks as if there will be some big clubs in there so that is a huge incentive for us, but League Two has been a great battle this season at the top and the most competitive across all four divisions.”