James McDonaugh glad to see Edinburgh City’s goals come from all areas of pitch

Edinburgh City boss James McDonaugh was pleased to see goals scored from all areas of the pitch during the 4-0 win over Annan Athletic, writes NEIL McGLADE.

Alex Harris opened the scoring during Edinburgh City's 4-0 win over Annan Athletic. Pic: SNS

In difficult conditions, the Citizens blew their opponents away with Alex Harris, Marc Laird, Chris Kane and Allan Smith all on the scoresheet in what proved to be a comfortable victory at Ainslie Park.

With last season’s top goalscorer Blair Henderson still not 100 per cent fit, McDonaugh admitted he is thrilled to see others stepping up to the plate.

City have now taken 13 points out of a possible 15 since the opening day 5-0 defeat at Cove Rangers and are just three points adrift of Paul Hartley’s men at the top of League Two.

“The conditions were really difficult with the wind so it was good how we adapted,” McDonaugh said. “We dominated the second half so the scoreline was pretty fair. It was a game we were approaching with caution given how well Annan did last season and we were far from our best. But I was pleased with the performance so I’m hoping there is still a lot more to come.

“The goals are being shared out. Craig (Thomson) has scored a couple of penalties, Chris Kane came into the team on Saturday and scored, Robbie McIntyre has, Marc Laird… Scott Shepherd, so there’s definitely goals in the team. It’s probably something we lacked last season as Blair seemed to score all the goals.

“I think we’ll always go back to the Cove game, even when we’re sitting at game 36. It is a strange one because you don’t know how the players are going to react to getting beat 5-0. It could happen again and you crumble or you turn it around and I think to pick up 13 points out of 15 since then has been a great reaction.

“We’ve just got to look after ourselves. I think the players deserve a lot of credit because they got a lot of stick for the Cove defeat. They’ve handled it well.”

Edinburgh City: McAdams, Thomson, McIntyre, Balatoni, Laird, Kane, Brown, Handling, Crane, Shepherd, Harris. Subs: Beveridge, Smith, Sinclair, Dunn, Watson, Henderson, Court.

Annan Athletic: Taylor, Douglas, Ballantyne, Bradley, Barr, Swinglehurst, McLean, Willie, Holt, McLear, Nade. Subs: Watson, Muir, Griffiths, Emerson, Currie, Walker.