Edinburgh City: 2016 hero Gary Jardine backing club to secure promotion

However, their six-year reign as a League Two outfit is now nearing an end in the town of Annan tonight.

The Citizens are just 90 minutes from securing promotion to Scottish football's third tier with goals from Innes Murray and Ryan Shanley handing the Capital outfit a deserved first-leg advantage.

Watching on at Ainslie Park earlier this week was the man at the helm when City upset the apple cart to bring East Stirlingshire's 61-year association with the Scottish senior leagues to a halt.

And now Gary Jardine, who left the club in 2017 and is the current manager of Lowland League outfit Civil Service Strollers, is urging his former side to make history in the Dumfriesshire this evening.

"Getting promoted to League Two was a very proud moment, not just as manager but I was there for 16 years having played too so you love the club," Jardine told the Evening News. "For all the hard work that goes on and off the park, I'll be as happy as anyone if they manage to do it tonight.

"I honestly believe Covid has maybe got in the way a wee bit or they might have managed it even earlier. Obviously, there are other circumstances with the likes of Kelty coming into the SPFL with their spending power, but it was always the goal of myself and the chairman (Jim Brown). He's very driven and Edinburgh City through and through and we had hoped over the course of five years the club would be knocking on the door of League One.

"Hopefully now is the time they do go up. If you look back at the club over the past ten or 15 years, it's been continuous improvement. Momentum plays a huge part in football and I think they've had a lift just at the right time."

Jardine believes interim boss Alan Maybury has brought a much better balance to the