Albion Rovers missed the chance to go 10 points clear of Brechin at the bottom of League Two after a crazy opening spell decided their clash with Elgin.
Rabin Omar and Kane Hester struck either side of Daniel Scally's strike for Rovers - all inside six minutes - to give the Borough Briggs men the three points.
It was a third defeat on the bounce for Kevin Harper's men, who remain seven points clear of the relegation play-off spot.
The match survived a 7.30am pitch inspection and Rovers will have been delighted to get it played ahead of seven scheduled games to come in March.
Midfielder Lewis Hunter, who signed on loan from East Fife yesterday, was thrown straight into the starting line-up by Rovers boss Kevin Harper and he endured a baptism of fire, with his side shipping two goals in the opening six minutes.
Rovers got off to a nightmare start, conceding after just 70 seconds. Kane Hester's shot from the edge of the box was blocked, but the ball fell kindly to Omar to curl the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
@albionrovers boss Kevin Harper gives his reaction to their 2-1 defeat to Elgin City. pic.twitter.com/INJ71ZJd1u
— Lanarkshire Live Sport (@LanLiveSport) February 29, 2020
The hosts fired back immediately when City keeper Thomas McHale flapped at Ross Clarke's cross to the back post and Scally gleefully headed home to equalise.
Just when you thought the game might settle down, Elgin regained the lead in six minutes. Brian Cameron's cross found Hester six yards out and he blasted the ball past Ryan Goodfellow for what was Elgin's one thousandth league goal.
Play continued to rage from end-to-end and Scally could have had a second in 10 minutes when he raced through on goal, but his weak effort was straight at McHale.
Some neat feet from Hester in the box opened space for a shot in 27 minutes and Goodfellow had to turn his effort behind for a corner, which came to nothing for the visitors.
Declan Byrne had a low strike turned away by McHale in 36 minutes as the hosts chased an equaliser but the break arrived with the hosts still trailing.
On the hour mark, Scally's cross found Euan East at the near post but he couldn't get enough purchase on his header to trouble McHale, as hailstones and then snow started falling at Cliftonhill.
Rovers kept pushing and substitute Cameron Breadner forced McHale into a good stop in 72 minutes when he cut inside and arrowed a low strike towards the far corner.
Ousman See climbed off the bench late on and he thought he'd levelled things up 10 minutes from time, but his curling effort inside the box hit the inside of the post before being cleared to safety.
Right at the death Nicki Paterson's goal-bound effort hit Byrne and deflected over the bar, as Rovers almost snatched a point.
Rovers now head to Cowdenbeath on Tuesday night for one of two games in hand they have over rivals Brechin and Stenhousemuir.
TEAMS
Albion Rovers: Goodfellow, Lynas Clarke, McAllister, Wilson, Hunter (Paterson), Roberts, Graham (Breadner), East (See), Byrne, Scally.
Bookings: Clarke, Roberts, Lynas
Scorers: Scally 3
Subs not used: Morena, Potts, Phillips, Trialist.
Elgin City: McHale, Spark, MacPhee (Wilson) Graham, Bronsky, Dingwall, Cooper, Cameron, Hester (O'Keefe), Omar, McKay.
Bookings: Spark, Mackay
Scorers: Omar 2, Hester 6
Subs not used: McDonald, Sopel, MacEwan, Hay, Kelly.
Ref: Duncan Williams
Att: 283
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