Elgin City have to be wary of threat of relegation back to Highland League as returning midfielder Brian Cameron admits the Black and Whites are in a dogfight
BACK on the pitch for Elgin City, Brian Cameron admits he is stepping into a League 2 dogfight to avoid the relegation trap door.
City’s longest serving player missed almost three months of a troubled season for his club due to a knee injury, but came on as sub in the 2-1 home defeat to Stranraer on Saturday and 2-0 midweek loss to Annan.
Those two results have edged the Black and Whites down to second bottom spot, nine points above Cowdenbeath who have three games in hand and host Elgin tomorrow.
“We need to put Cowdenbeath out of sight,” said Cameron. “Albion Rovers are back ahead of us so we are in a bit of a dogfight just now and we need to pick ourselves up.
“The squad is very similar to last year and we didn’t expect to be where we are but for some reason we’ve just not performed like we can.”
Cameron (30) is a veteran of 460 first team appearances for his home town team and has been widely regarded as one of the best midfielder players in the lower leagues of the SPFL.
But his injury trouble this season means he is some way off full fitness and battling to get back firing on all cylinders.
Manager Gavin Price is easing him back into action gradually with sub appearances.
“Obviously I’m still miles off it and I feel sluggish. I need a couple of weeks of hard training to get back into it.
“It’s different to playing the real games but I’m positive. I’m back in amongst it now and I’m feeling OK so fingers crossed it might be a wee boost to the boys.
“I was out a lot longer than expected. We initially thought it might be just four to six weeks but it took longer and longer to heal.
“These midweek games mean it’s been a bit stop-start for me training-wise but I’m getting into it, working out on my own and I’ll work hard with the boys and it will come.
“I definitely still need to be playing parts of games rather than 90 minutes but fingers crossed that won’t be far away.”
Cameron’s appearance on Saturday sparked a late flurry from 2-0 down against Stranraer in a match marred by some puzzling refereeing decisions, not least the penalty awarded to the visitors for their opening goal.
A late Darryl McHardy goal proved to be nothing more than a consolation, while against Annan the Black and Whites spurned some good first half openings but were punished for poor defending as Annan converted their best two chances before half time.
“We need to be picking up points soon or else we are going to get stranded a wee bit,” Cameron added.
“Once I’m back to my best I can see myself getting forward and hopefully getting a few goals to help the team out.”