Elgin keep promotion hopes alive

A CONTROVERSIAL penalty gave the Third Division title to Rangers as Elgin defeated Queen’s Park 1-0 at Hampden thanks to Stuart Leslie’s cool finish 12 minutes after half-time.

The spot-kick was awarded after a collision involving the Spiders’ Jamie Brough and Paul Millar who appeared to be perpetrator rather than victim.

Elgin boss Ross Jack, delighted that his side kept their slim play-off hopes alive, said: “This was a massive three points and whether it will be enough we will need to wait and see. It is a huge ask to get there but no-one is giving up. We are still relying on other people doing us favours but we will look to keep making it difficult for the teams above us.”

Disappointed Queen’s Park head coach Gardner Speirs said: “When you are on top of a game you need to score and we were on top for most of that game. If we had scored it would have forced Elgin to come out a bit more but credit to them for getting the win.”

Speirsadded: “Congratulations to Rangers as they have deserved their title. We are playing them next Sunday but we wanted to win today and on Tuesday night against Stirling for our own purposes and not to keep the title race going until then.”

Peterhead won at home for the first time in 2013 when Rory McAllister scored twice in the last 20 minutes to earn a 2-0 win over visitors Annan and moved up fourth place.

Stirling Albion kept their slim promotion hopes alive with a 1-0 win over Berwick, Mark Ferry hitting the winner with just three minutes left.

Clyde opened a five-point gap on bottom side East Stirling with a 2-0 win at Broadwood thanks to a Pat Scullion goal in the first half and a John Sweeney strike in the second.