Despite conceding two penalties and being reduced to 10 men, Rovers managed to gain a vital point away from home.
Some of Rovers defending in the second half was top class to ensure the points were shared, but it will be Sean Fagan who will take the plaudits today as he chipped in with today’s equaliser along with a brilliant performance at the heart of defence.
The first ten minutes were quiet as both teams tried to settle into the game with the first half-chance in the 10th minute coming for Elgin City through Ross Draper whose header from a free-kick went wide of Binnie’s post.
Blair Malcolm would be forced off in the 22nd minute after a previous tough challenge on him would leave him unable to continue, leading to him being replaced by Scott Roberts.
The game would explode into life as Elgin were awarded a penalty after Kane Hester was brought down in the box, which Hester himself converted to give Elgin the lead at the halfway point of the first half.
Little else would happen in terms of chances for the rest of the first half until the very end when Charlie Reilly’s left-sided corner was floated into the box and met the head of Sean Fagan whose bullet header gave Rovers the equaliser going into halftime.
Despite the momentum gained from scoring just before halftime, Rover’s second half got off to a poor start as the trialist was sent off just two minutes after the restart for a second yellow card which looked harsh. This sending-off would make Rovers go more defensive and saw striker Josh Jack be replaced by defender Adam Fernie.
Elgin would look to be through on goal on the hour mark, but the linesman would flag for offside, and would then see another big chance just three minutes later getting in behind once again but Cammy Binnie would pull off a great save to prevent Elgin from taking the lead.
Another chance would be given to Elgin to take the lead in the 67th minute as they were awarded another penalty after Fagan was deemed to have brought down Hester. Once again Hester would take but this time, he was denied by Cammy Binnie who continued his penalty-saving heroics that we have seen over the last few weeks and kept the score at 1-1.
Rovers would make their third change of the game as Max Wright was replaced by Declan Byrne who made his long return from injury with 20 minutes to play.
The game would once again calm down until the last couple of minutes when Binnie would be forced into another top save to tip the ball over the bar as Elgin began to ramp up the pressure. The Rover’s defence would then put their bodies on the line to keep the ball out of the net in which they succeeded in doing.
Declan Byrne would then appear to be through on goal in the last minute and was brought down just outside the box, but the referee deemed that the Elgin defender got the ball leaving the Rovers players and staff on the bench outraged. Jamie Leslie would be booked just after this.
The game would finish 1-1 giving both sides a deserved point which leaves Rovers sitting in 9th and Elgin in 8th however Rovers are only five points off the playoff places as their next game sees them take on the bottom side Cowdenbeath at home on the 29th of January.
