ELGIN CITY 6 SHIRE 0

Borough Briggs in Elgin is rapidly becoming another of those hoodoo grounds Shire fans fear travelling to. Only two victories have ever been recorded there by the Firs Parkers since Elgin City joined the Scottish League seven seasons ago, but even by those standards Gordon Wylde’s team managed still to reach a new low.

Even allowing for the absence of skipper Andrew Brand through injury and the suspended Kevin McBride the Shire team did not seem, on the face of it, weakened too significantly.

Derek Ure slotted into the left-back role normally taken up by McBride while Kevin Struthers was given the job of trying to link up with lone front man Joe Savage. But it was a day when nothing Shire tried seemed to work.

The 6-0  final scoreline certainly did not flatter the home team, who dominated from start to finish and, even if their opening goal was fortuitous for them and harsh on Shire, it was not undeserved.

The 35th minute foul by Paul Doyle on Zander Sutherland on the goal line gave referee Craig Charleston the chance to award a penalty to Elgin, which was justified. The debate over whether he really required to issue a second yellow card to Paul Doyle could go on forever, but he did and Shire were reduced to ten men before Darren Shalliker blasted the ball past Darren Hill low to the keeper’s left from the penalty spot.

The hoodoo had struck and, from the players' immediate response, it was clear they felt there was nothing they could do about it. From that moment on they simply caved in and Elgin, who had not been entirely comfortable before the award of the spot kick, did as they liked for the rest of the game.

Shalliker could have had a second goal just a minute after his first but was denied by a brilliant last-ditch block from Carl Thywissen, but it was clear Shire’s world was crumbling around them.

The second goal on 42 minutes was a defensive shambles, Smith breaking clear down the right and simply crossing for the unmarked Shalliker to side foot the ball past a stranded looking Darren Hill.

Derek Ure then cleared an effort from the line and, after the half-time break, Elgin were quickly back into their stride. Shalliker was having a field day and the ten men were having a nightmare.

It was inevitable there would be more goals and on 50 minutes the Elgin centre-forward completed his hat-trick. Shalliker received  the ball with his back to goal but easily turned his defender before shooting low past Hill.

It was clear by that point the game was beyond Shire but their failure to limit the damage any further was both frightening and worrying in equal measure. On the hour mark it was 4-0. Shalliker, still running riot as the home defence could not get anywhere near him, strolled down the left and slipped over a cross which Craig Frizzell slid in at the back post.

The roof had now fallen in on Shire and two minutes later Shalliker fired in a shot from outside the box which Hill saved but could not hold. Mark Nicolson, who had been lurking on the edge of the box with intent, reacted far quicker than any of the Shire players to reach the loose ball and shoot home the fifth.

Mercifuly, Shalliker was substituted almost immediately but it made little difference to the overall flow of the game. After 70 minutes Hill made an impressive stop from a Paul Kaczan free-kick and, in general terms, Elgin showed no sign of easing up.

The point was proven in the 79th minute when another ball across the face of goal ended with the unmarked Smith racing through the home defence to score with a rebounded shot after Hill saved his first effort.

Shire fans left Borough Briggs in a state of complete shock. They had arrived in some degree of anticipation, and although the team made a sluggish start they should have been a goal to the good after 27 minutes.

Joe Savage held the ball up perfectly then delivered the killer through ball to send Kevin Struthers clean through on goal. He looked odds on to score but shot wide with only the keeper to beat.

That was in itself bad enough, but what was to follow was to be many times worse.

Elgin City : Ridgers, Campbell(Ross 71), Nicolson, Hind, Dickson, Gilbert(Dempsie 64), Smith, Kaczan, Shalliker(Charlesworth 64), Sutherland, Frizzell.

Shire : Hill, Moffat, Doyle, King(Upton 59), Thywissen, Kelly, Donaldson, Struthers, Savage, Simpson(Brownlie 58), Ure.

Referee : C. Charleston

Attendance : 399.

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