LISTEN: Blow to City promotion hopes following striker injury update

Elgin City face a blow in their hopes to progress out of League Two with news this week that Shane Sutherland will miss the rest of the season including the play-offs.

Sutherland came off injured in the 4-1 victory over Clyde in February - and despite a brief re-appearance in the recent 1-1 draw at Cowdenbeath - his cartilage injury needs an operation which could see him side-lined for around 6 months.

The former Peterhead and Caley Thistle forward - player of the month in October - has netted 24 goals in 33 appearances, making a telling contribution in City's push to challenge league leaders Forfar.

Sadly for City they now sit 9 points off the top with just seven games left.

Defender Darryl McHardy netted in last weekend's 1-1 draw with Forfar, he remarks on the impact of Sutherland's absence.

"We just need the consistency, find winning ways, get the boys back confident, and see us scoring goals again"

"He's been one of our best players throughout the whole season, he's scored most of the goals, but also bringing other players into the game - like Brian Cameron with his runs from midfield - it's been a huge blow, along with the fact that we've been struggling for goals of late"

That said, with every injury comes opportunity, and McHardy looks for others to make their mark.

"There's been people waiting throughout the season because Shane - along with Chris McLeish - have been playing so well. Now they have their chance, they have to step up to the challenge, and we just need to look to get up through the play-offs"

"We just need the consistency, find winning ways, get the boys back confident, and see us scoring goals again"

As well as a recent flurry of injuries, including defender Matthew Cooper who is facing three weeks out with a hamstring problem, Darryl says that decisions on the pitch have been hard to take.

"If we'd beaten Arbroath in our recent match (which ended 0-0) I thought we played them off the park, and I couldn't understand why, when Craig Gunn's through past the last man, we didn't get the decision when he's taken down"

"Likewise on Saturday against Forfar, Chris McLeish is through and gets hauled down, it looked a clear stone-waller again"

"I just feel both those matches could've given us a huge boost, but in the end both just became a bit of a kick in-the-teeth"

With injuries, manager Jim Weir has been pressed into enforced changes, and in some cases players have had to adapt to positional switches, as McHardy explains:

Saturday it's a trip to Edinburgh City, with Elgin City chasing a clean-sweep against the League Two newcomers, following 3-0, 2-1 and 3-1 victories.

But McHardy doesn't believe their opponents are the easy pushovers that they seemed at the start of the season.

"They've signed Derek Riordan and he'll bring a lot of experience. We played them off the park earlier this season, but this'll be completely different"

And stats would seem to back that up, as Edinburgh - who failed to record a win until November - have now moved into a position where they are four points clear of bottom side Cowdenbeath.