Elgin boss blown away by Sutherland development

Elgin City manager Jim Weir reckons his side’s promotion chances have been boosted by striker Shane Sutherland’s new-found maturity this season. 

The 25-year-old has been in excellent form since the start of the campaign, bagging six goals in 10 Ladbrokes League 2 matches so far, and his form has helped fire the club to their current spot of second in the table.

Despite still being relatively young, Sutherland is in his third spell with Elgin, and Weir insists he’s been pleasantly surprised by the player’s development during his time away from Borough Briggs.

Speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes News, Weir also sang the praises of midfielder Bryan Cameron, saying: “I always knew Shane was a decent player. He was with us before and left for Peterhead, and rightly so, as he was obviously looking for a step up and a better contract.

“But I just felt that when Shane left us he had a wee bit of growing up to do and I felt like he had several areas of his game he needed to add to in order to develop.

“He’s come back and the change in him has astounded me. He’s now married and he’s a father and with that comes responsibility, and he’s been an absolute blessing in terms of a re-signing for us because he’s given us so much. His work-rate and all those things I hoped he’d find one day are all there. For me, at the minute, we’ve got the complete player.

“We’ve got three or four players in our team who deserve the chance to play at a higher level, Bryan Cameron is the other obvious one. He’s as good a midfield player as I’ve worked with or even played alongside, and he just needs a wee break and to believe in himself a bit more. But he’s got everything – and I mean that – he’s got everything in terms of a modern-day midfield player.”

Elgin made it to the play-offs last season, narrowly losing to Clyde, but whilst Weir admits his sights are set on a similar finish this season, the manager also admits that lifting the Ladbrokes League 2 title in May isn’t out of the question.

He added: “It’s nice to be up amongst the early season favourites, and up amongst the top-four positions.

“I think you have to be realistic at times. I feel like there are four or five teams this season that are capable of winning the title. I’ve always tried to play down our chances of that, but I might be doing our players a disservice.

“It comes down to consistency; it comes down to a bit of luck, in terms of injuries and suspensions. Our target this season it to make the top-four but we know that the big prize is there and it’s not out-with the realms of possibility.”

Weir and his promotion-chasing Elgin squad will be looking to keep the pressure up on pace-setters Forfar when they host Cowdenbeath on Saturday, and are currently priced at 5/1 to win the division outright.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing