Edinburgh City playing their part in Capital football's rise

Edinburgh City boss James McDonaugh insists there is a right feel-good factor around the Capital where football is concerned.
James McDonaugh has reshaped the squad and implemented his ideasJames McDonaugh has reshaped the squad and implemented his ideas
James McDonaugh has reshaped the squad and implemented his ideas

The Citizens are riding a crest of a wave having won three of their opening four matches, a nine-point return has seen them reach the heady heights of third in SPFL League Two and they are just a point adrift of joint leaders Peterhead and Annan Athletic.

Both city rivals Hearts and Hibs have started their Premiership campaigns in fine fettle. The Jam Tarts lead the way in Scotland having won their opening three fixtures, while Neil Lennon’s Hibs are undefeated and just four points behind in third position.

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McDonaugh takes his players to Peterhead tomorrow with his players in good spirits and victory at Balmoor would allow City to leapfrog their hosts.

“We really want to make people aware that there is a third team in Edinburgh,” McDonaugh explained. “We’re not asking people to come along every Saturday but we just want to show fans that we can play good football. If you look at Hibs and Hearts sitting in the top three in the Premiership and we’re sitting third in League Two, it’s absolutely great for the city. We would just like to reach out to some of those fans when maybe their teams are away from home to come and watch Edinburgh City instead.”

McDonaugh revealed he has no plans to add to his squad before tonight’s transfer deadline, adamant he is more than content with the players recruited over the summer. Despite club captain Josh Walker expected to be out until early next year with a knee injury, McDonaugh says he has enough talent at his disposal to fill the void. 
“We’ve started this season well so we’re delighted with players we’ve signed and the improvements we’ve made so far. I knew all the guys we brought in before they signed on here so there weren’t any gambles.

“I really feel for Josh because he’s not been mentioned as much because we’ve coped well without him. If we’d maybe lost all our games then we might have been talking a lot more about how big a loss he’s been. He’s a terrific player and one who could play at a higher level but that’s credit to the guys who are fit and available.

“The improvements we’ve made are as clear as day. We’ve actually won six out of nine games so far this season, whereas last term we were five out of 29.

“When I first came in we couldn’t score a goal. Slowly but surely things started to change but if teams are looking at us now and thinking we’re not a given three points then that tells you a lot in itself. We’ll have an off day, there’s no two ways about it. Our next two games (Peterhead and Annan) are really difficult so they are going to be a big test for us.

“It’s not about getting off to a flyer because you can take a dip. We’ve got our own targets in the changing room. But we’ve hit a few firsts this season when we were at the top of the league after the opening weekend, finishing third in our group in the Betfred Cup, so we just want to keep setting new records.”

McDonaugh continued: “I’m the type of manager who wants their team to have a go and be attacking. We would have been delighted to have picked up two points from the Clyde and Peterhead matches so the fact we’ve already got three means we can go up there under no pressure. We’ll be playing our own brand of football to try and make an impact on the game.”