Montrose dropped to the bottom of League 2 but new boss Paul Hegarty insists there is no need for his team to panic.
Hegarty and his No 2, former Dundee United team-mate John Holt, watched their team concede three goals, miss a penalty and have a man sent off inside the opening 45 minutes at Elgin.
In the end Elgin won 4-0, but Hegarty is determined to lift sagging morale in the camp and get the Gable Endies back up the table.
“Up until their first goal we had most of the play, and playing some decent stuff,” he said.
“We lost a poor goal from a corner and then we missed a penalty. Had we scored there, the game could have changed as we had been looking lively.”
Montrose started brightly with David Banjo’s overlapping runs from right-back causing problems.
Their first effort on goal came from former Elgin man Paul Harkins who produced chest control and a good volley to test the home side’s deputy keeper Stewart Black.
Elgin’s first threatening raid came on 16 minutes. Matthew Cooper crossed from deep and Shane Sutherland met the ball with a looping header which had Stuart McKenzie beaten but it clipped the outside of the post.
Slack Montrose marking six minutes later led to a home opener from an Archie MacPhee corner on the right, glanced home by the head of St Johnstone loan teenager Ally Gilchrist.
The visitors chased an equaliser and won a penalty on 33 minutes when Scott Johnston was clearly tripped by Darryl McHardy.
Skipper Garry Wood took the penalty but his blast down the middle was repelled by keeper Black’s outstretched foot.
Matters got worse three minutes later when debut defender Ewan Moyes fouled Craig Gunn in full flight and, having been booked minutes earlier, he was shown a red card.
Captain Wood moved back to central defence but the visitors were caught cold by a through pass to Sutherland, who shrugged off Ross Graham and netted on 40 minutes.
To cap a nightmare half for Hegarty, a stoppage time corner by MacPhee picked out Mark Nicolson on the edge of the box and he crashed a fierce drive through a busy penalty area past an unsighted McKenzie to make it 3-0.
As expected, the contest died a death in the second half with victory already assured for Elgin.
Harkins did bring a fine save out of home keeper Black with a first time 20-yard effort which was destined for the top corner.
But a fourth Elgin goal arrived on 77 minutes from the head of captain Jamie Duff, glancing home Craig Thomson’s cross.
It could have been more, with Stuart McKenzie tipping over Thomson’s curling free-kick on 85 minutes then repelling Sutherland’s close range stab from the resultant corner.