Montrose boss George Shields was delighted with his side’s fighting performance as they dug out a single-goal victory against Elgin City at Borough Briggs.
A deflected second half goal from Paul Watson secured the important three points.
Shields said: “I think that we had the better of the chances in the second half and obviously got the goal.
“We had a wee bit of luck there because it took a massive deflection.
“However, we will take it because we have had a few games go against us recently.”
“It says a lot for the players when they can dig deep and get a victory. We kept our shape well and had a good attitude so it is a brilliant three points.
“We also managed to keep 11 players on the park which is a bonus. I think that out of five games we have managed to end up with 10 men every game.
“We are very happy. It is always difficult to come to Elgin and win so I am over the moon.”
It was a scrappy first half with few chances falling for either side.
Montrose saw efforts from Stephen Day and Paul Harkins both scrape just wide of the target.
Elgin came more into the game at the beginning of the second half. Craig Gunn saw his effort go just wide of the target on the 50th minute after latching on to the end of a cross from Archie MacPhee.
The deadlock was broken on the 72nd when Paul Watson unleashed a shot from 25 yards out. It looked to be a comfortable save for Elgin keeper Michael Fraser but took a heavy deflection off of defender Matthew Cooper and landed in the back of the net.
Elgin had a chance to equalise on the 81st minute as Craig Gunn played the ball through to Shane Sutherland but his shot from close range was saved by Lucas Birnstingl.
Montrose thought they had doubled their lead with just minutes to go but Bryan Deasley’s strike was flagged offside.