Elgin City Women 4 Buchan Ladies 5: Defeat is 'reality check' for Black and Whites
ELGIN City Women manager Mo Morrison was "thoroughly disappointed" after a "reality check" 5-4 defeat at home against Buchan Ladies.
City led 2-1 and 3-2 before going down in a nine-goal game. Jess Moore hit a hat-trick for the Black and Whites in front of a crowd of 132 at the Gleaner Arena.
Morrison said: "We win as a team and lose a team. We can't just blame the defence.
"The five goals we conceded were poor – we scored four good goals ourselves and shouldn't have to score six to win at home.
"I'm thoroughly disappointed but it's a moment we will maybe look back on and say it was a reality check.
"There has been a lot of praise lately, from me and other areas, and, as a footballer, it's easy to get caught up in the moment and think you don't have to work hard.
"We had too many people who were passengers, but everybody bears the brunt."
City conceded early on at the Gleaner Arena, but fought back to lead after 25 minutes thanks to goals from Jess Moore and Abi Hayes.
The game went into the break at 2-2, but a third goal came for the hosts within five minutes of the restart through Jess Moore.
City then conceded three in a 20-minute spell to trail 5-3 before Jess Moore completed a hat-trick that ended up being in vain.
Morrison added: "I had a little bit of a go at them at half-time for the first time because I was disappointed with how easy it was for the opposition to get their goals.
"They were physical and direct and we have to stand up to that. I asked for a reaction and I seemed to get that at 3-2, but 60 seconds later we conceded another sloppy goal and the heads drop.
"Buchan then scored two goals in a row and that put us up against it. We continued to battle and got the fourth goal but it wasn't to be.
"Credit to Buchan, their keeper was player of the match and kept them in it with a number of saves, but that's no excuse – we didn't play anywhere near what we are capable of."
On Moore's hat-trick, he added: "She's disappointed to score a hat-trick and be on the losing side, but that won't deter her, she is driven.
"She had some really good finishes and had a great pass for our other goal as well. She'll look to get everybody back on song and hopefully she can bag another hat-trick at the weekend."
Elgin play Grampian in the League Cup on Sunday, away from home. The Black and Whites lost their opening cup group stage match to Inverurie.
They will need to pull in players from Moray Girls due to an injury crisis which saw five players on the treatment table at training this week.
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