Michael Paton's City side travel to the capital this evening to face Edinburgh City looking for a marked improvement from the weekend.

A 4-2 defeat at home to Albion Rovers saw City slip six points adrift at the bottom with just seven games to play.

City will come up against an Edinburgh side who currently sit in second place, having won 5 of their last 6 league matches under recently appointed Manager Gary Naismith.

TEAM NEWS
City will unfortunately be without the services of on-loan Aberdeen midfielder Connor Barron for the remainder of the season after the youngster sustained ankle ligament damage in the match against Stenhousemuir last week. Everyone at the Club would like to wish Connor a speedy recovery.

Also missing for City is Chris McKee who is suspended following his red card on Saturday. Gerry McLauchlan, who had been named in the starting 11 on Saturday but pulled out pre-match with a calf problem, will be monitored ahead of tonight's game.

MANAGERS COMMENTS
Reflecting on a disappointing result on Saturday, Player/Manager Michael Paton said, "We just weren't ourselves and we simply couldn't get going. We created some chances after the first goal and we could have gone in at half time level but over the 90 minutes I think Albion Rovers showed that they wanted it more than us. It wasn't like us at all because in the majority of matches we've rolled our sleeves up and shown character if things weren't going for us, but on Saturday we were just a bit off it.

With the influential Connor Barron ruled out for the remainder of the season, he commented, "You could see what Connor brings to the side and I think Saturday highlighted the maturity and quality that he brings in the middle of the park. We're gutted at what's happened to Connor and he'll be sorely missed."

Asked if he expected a reaction from the players this evening, he said "That's the beauty of the game - the matches are coming thick and fast so the boys have got a chance to go out and put on a good performance and put Saturday behind them. They need to pick themselves up and it'll be a real test of character.

After missing the last few weeks through injury, Michael himself made a comeback as a substitute on Saturday alongside Abdul Osman. He added, "Because it's hamstrings it's something we need to be careful with. Obviously we wanted to come on a little earlier than we did but the main thing is that 'Abs' and I came through it with no reaction so it's put us in a healthier position."

Speaking on Gerry McLauchlan who was a late call off for the game on Saturday, Michael said, "The big man is as honest as they come. He just wanted to play and didn't want to let anyone down but the games are coming thick and fast - if he pulled up during the game on Saturday he could have put himself at risk of missing the rest of the season. He felt a bit of tightness in his calf during the warm up so it was the correct decision to leave him out the team and take another couple of days rest."

MATCH OFFICIALS
Tonight's match referee is Kevin Graham, assisted by Ross MacLeod and Michael Addy.

LIVE MATCH STREAM
Edinburgh City FC will be providing a live stream of the match, with pay-per-view access priced at £9.99. To register and subscribe for the game, visit ECFC TV. Please note that the match kicks off at 7:00pm.

PREVIOUS MEETING
Brechin City 1-5 Edinburgh City - 17th October 2020
The league season got off to the worst possible start for Brechin as they were emphatically beaten by the Citizens on the opening day. Goals either side of the interval from Liam Brown and Conrad Balatoni had the visitors two goals ahead before Jimmy Scott halved the deficit shortly after. A penalty from Blair Henderson restored the two goal advantage before Josh Campbell and Danny Jardine added to the scoreline to round of a comfortable win for James McDonagh's side.