Lossies recent bubble of success was burst in spectacular style at Borough Briggs tonight, as Elgin City ran out 5-0 winners in the group stage of the North of Scotland Cup. Two penalties from Hugh Dickson and a hat trick from Martin Johnson gave the scoreline a flattering appearance, but Lossie competed well against their opponents from the SFL for long spells and can take some positives from the game.

The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges and went forward quickly, keeping Elgin on the back foot. On 12 minutes, David Hendry produced the closest thing to a goal when he rattled the upright with a curling free kick.

Just when Lossie were dominating, Elgin took the lead with the simplest of goals. A long punt out of defence from Hugh Dickson found the Lossie rearguard attempting to play the offside trap, only for Reid to be caught to far back. Former HFL man Martin JOHNSON raced through onto the ball and fired it past Dunn to open the scoring.

Four minutes later, things got worse for Lossie when Dunn hauled down Garry Wood. The goalkeeper had come out for the ball but the bounce got the better of him and it flew over his head, and the referee booked him for grabbing onto Woods shirt. Hugh DICKSON stepped up to send Dunn the wrong way.

Before play restarted, a bleeding Lee Moir was taken off and replaced by Steven Ellis, and Lossie went looking for a way back into the game. The visitors were playing well enough, but couldn’t find a way through the Elgin defence.

On the half hour, things went pear shaped at the back again, and a clumsy challenge on Fraser Bremner by Graeme Smith, one of Lossies more comfortable looking players up until this point, led to the award of a second penalty. DICKSON took the kick and despite Dunn guessing correctly, the ball was just too high to get a hand to.

Half time – Elgin City 4 Lossiemouth 0

All we can gather from the half time music is that it is picked by someone with either a taste for big hair 80’s rock or someone with a dark sense of humour, as ‘The Final Countdown’ boomed out above the heads of those in the enclosure. Not the most appropriate given the behind the scenes goings on at BB in recent weeks, but a welcome treat for any air guitar fans in the ground.

Lossie were first to threaten in the second half, with Morrison taking down a Dunn goal kick on the edge of the Elgin box and turning, only to slip and scuff his shot gently into the keepers arms, summing up the kind of night Lossie were having.

Elgin came close to extending their advantage five minutes later. A curling cross from the touchline by Muir beat everyone in the box and crashed off the far post. Dunn could only watch on as Wood took possession, but would have been relieved to see him blast the ball over the bar.

Lossie went on to compete well for long spells, but lacked that special something needed to get past a physical, well organised Elgin side who were knocking the ball about with confidence. Kennedy came closest to scoring with a header just wide from a Reid free kick, but as the game progressed, you could see that this wasn’t going to be Lossies night.

Full time – Elgin City 5 Lossiemouth 0