James McDonaugh aims to pick up Edinburgh City players after Brechin result

Edinburgh City boss James McDonaugh says his players won’t give up on their Ladbrokes League Two title dreams despite falling eight points behind Cove Rangers.

The Citizens were held to a frustrating goalless draw at home to bottom-of-the-table Brechin City at Ainslie Park on Saturday that ensured Cove stretched their lead at the top following their 2-0 victory over Queen’s Park.

And despite enjoying the vast majority of possession, McDonaugh felt that his players lacked creativity in the final third – and not for the first time this season. However, with 11 fixtures left to play, the former Falkirk assistant manager believes there is still

time to turn things in their favour.

“We’ll never give up, that’s for sure,” he said. “It is a big gap and they’re running a wee bit away from us so fair play to Cove. We’ve just got to try and get back on the bike and go again.

“The boys are disappointed. They’re an honest bunch so we’ve tried to clear the air a bit. They’re disappointed not to stay in touch with Cove so we need to improve. We’ll look

forward to the next game and see if we can find a way to finish the season as strong as we can.

“I actually thought the weather wasn’t too bad on Saturday but it didn’t help matters. The wind wasn’t as strong as was forecast.

“We defended well, had plenty of the ball and were in control of the game pretty much from start to finish. But I don’t feel we created enough. I’ve said this before but in the final third we were lacking.

“Fair play to Brechin. They came and set up with a back five and got a point but we’ve got to do better to break teams down. We didn’t do enough to win the game.”

Edinburgh City: Mason, Thomson, Balatoni, L Henderson, Crane, Handling, Sinclair (Harris 57), Laird, Savoury (Holmes 71), Court (B Henderson 57), Shepherd. Subs: Beveridge, Brown, Wilson, Kane.

Brechin City: McMinn, Reekie (Duncanson 74), Hill, Page, McIntosh, Petkov, Allan, McCabe, Inglis, McManus (Hamilton 71), Scott. Subs: McLaughlin, McCord, Laverty, Jackson, O’Neil.

Referee: Lloyd Wilson.

Attendance: 230.