Elgin City and Hibs players contest the ball in midfield.

Elgin City v Hibernian

Scottish League Cup: Group C

Saturday 13th July 2024

Scottish League Two side Elgin City welcomed Hibernian of the Scottish Premiership to their historic Borough Briggs ground for the opening round of fixtures in the 2024 edition of the League Cup. It was an unseasonably cold ‘summer’s day’ in Moray and warm coats were in order for many of the spectators. There was even a smattering of woolly hats in evidence amongst the crowd. Thankfully, despite the heavy cloud cover, it stayed dry throughout.

Fans arriving at Borough Briggs
Fans arriving at Borough Briggs for Elgin City v Hibernian

Borough Briggs is a quaint little stadium situated just to the north-west of the city centre and easily walkable from the train station. It dates back to 1921 and retains a grassy bank at each end, with a small amount of uncovered concrete terracing behind the goals. The main stand has 478 seats and a covered terrace runs the length of the opposite side of the ground, allowing for a total capacity of 4,520. The site is overlooked from the south by a monument to the 5th Duke of Gordon, which dominates the Eglin skyline atop a small hill.

Elgin City players warming up on the pitch.
Elgin City players warming up on the pitch ahead of their Scottish League Cup Group C clash with Hibs.

Arriving in plenty of time for the 3pm kick off, I found a parking spot in a sizeable public car park conveniently situated a few meters down Boroughbriggs Road from the stadium at a very reasonable rate of £2 for the remainder of the afternoon. Having purchased my £16 ticket online a couple of days previously, I was able to bypass the queue of people paying on the gate and present my QR code for scanning at a turnstile dedicated to ticket holders. The seating area was long-since sold out, so I’d bought a standing ticket and opted for a spot close to the halfway line with a pillar to lean on underneath the terrace roof.

Elgin's Borough Briggs ground starts to fill up.
Elgin’s Borough Briggs ground starts to fill up with a bumper crowd of over 1,700.

I’d estimate that some 400-500 Hibs supporters had made the journey up from Edinburgh to see their club’s first competitive fixture under new manager David Gray. Gray is a former Manchester United youth teamer who went on to have a distinguished career as a player with Hibernian between 2014 and 2021. He’s had three spells as a caretaker manager at the club before finally landing the role on a permanent basis this summer, aged just 36.

Some fresh-faced Hibs ultras take their place in the away end.
Some fresh-faced Hibs ultras take their place in the away end.

A small band of youthful looking, self-styled ‘ultras’ took up residence behind the goal in the away end and provided a backing sound-track of drum beats to accompany the proceedings. The bulk of the visiting fans occupied the end third of the covered terrace that is segregated from the home section by a metal grill just to the right of my vantage point. They accounted for a sizeable proportion of the 1,788 crowd.

Elgin City and Hibs players contest the ball in midfield.
Elgin City and Hibs players contest the ball in midfield.

Elgin City were formed in 1893 and, for the majority of their existence, they competed in the Highland League. However, they gained Scottish Football League status in the year 2000 when they and Peterhead were incorporated into the fourth tier of the national league system. Elgin have remained at that level ever since and struggled last season, only avoiding the relegation play-off by four points. In contrast, Hibernian finished eighth out of twelve in the Scottish Premiership and the gulf in class was apparent from the early stages.

A rare attack for the home side.
The stony gaze of the 5th Duke of Gordon falls upon Borough Briggs as he contemplates a rare attack for the home side.

Hibs’ Dutch striker Dylan Vente opened the scoring in just the eighth minute with a tap-in following a low cross into the danger zone from the right. The visitors were largely in control thereafter and Elgin struggled to hold onto possession for long whenever they ventured into the opposition half. The second goal came just a minute before the interval when the same player struck again, this time heading in a cross from the left.

Yet another cross into the Elgin City box.
Hibs apply some second half pressure with yet another cross into the Elgin City box.

It was one-way traffic for most of the second half, with debutant centre-back Marvin Ekpiteta heading in a cross five minutes after the restart, having stayed forward following a corner. Australian international winger Martin Boyle added a fourth a few minutes later with a strong run and shot from the right flank before Vente rounded off the scoring with another header to complete his hat-trick. A comparatively uneventful final half hour saw Hibs keep their hosts at arm’s length to see out the 5-0 victory.

Full Time. Elgin City 0-5 Hibernian.
Full Time. Elgin City 0-5 Hibernian.

Elgin will rue the fact that four of the goals came from crosses, so there will be plenty of work for them to do on the training ground to address that deficiency ahead of their forthcoming fixtures. Both teams will go on to play Peterhead, Queen’s Park and Kelty Hearts in Group C, with Hibs strong favourites to top the table and progress to the knockout rounds. The best three runners-up from the eight groups will also qualify, but Elgin will require a rapid upturn in form if they are to challenge for one of those spots.

The only dampener to a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon came as I exited the ground, when one of the numerous local seagulls scored a direct hit to my bald patch with some particularly well aimed droppings as it swooped over the concourse. I was thankful that the washrooms were close at hand.

At the time of writing, match highlights were available on YouTube via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU2seQkcgHk