Elgin City manager Allan Hale

Disappointment for Elgin City manager Allan Hale after a 4-2 defeat at home to Annan Athletic in the first leg of the League 1 playoff.

Transcript

00:00A mixture of emotions, to be honest. I thought first half so uncharacteristic for an Elgin City team.

00:06You know, certainly since I've become manager, you know, I think we've got principles that we've embedded in this group

00:12and we've got non-negotiables that we set upon this team that there's a bare minimum standard that's expected.

00:18And, yeah, look, to say we fell short of that in the first half would be an understatement.

00:22You know, it was a big occasion, you know, the fans turned out in their numbers and, you know,

00:26I must give them so much credit because we asked them to turn up on the numbers,

00:30we asked them to get behind the team, we asked them to bring the noise

00:32and they've done everything in the power to give the players a lift tonight.

00:36First half, I thought the goals we gave away were so frustrating, you know, two set pieces

00:40and it comes in an area that everything we spoke about in terms of, you know,

00:45what we spoke about last week and, you know, before the start of the game.

00:48And that's a real frustration because, you know, we're so solid usually in those areas.

00:53Then we lost our way a wee bit when we lost the second goal.

00:55I thought we just got spooked, you know, we just lacked a bit of composure

00:59and probably a bit of experience in certain areas of the pitch.

01:02But then second half, I think you saw all the qualities of this Elgin City team.

01:07And they've done everything in their power to get, you know, at least one goal to get back into the game.

01:14And I'm scratching my head as to how we haven't, you know, we've dumped in crosses

01:19and free headers and, you know, chances.

01:22And look, it wasn't to be, but the tie is far from over.

01:26And, you know, if we're going to go down, we're going to go down fighting.

01:29But we're going to go down there and, you know, try and make a better account of ourselves.

01:32And we're going to go down there to try and win the game.

01:34And we're going to go down there to turn deficit and, you know, make sure that we're getting to that final

01:40because we're desperate to do it, you know, we believe we're going to have to do it.

01:43And we'll certainly give our best shot.