Annan Athletic off to a flying start

Aug 6 2008

Cowdenbeath 1 Annan Athletic 4

NEW BOYS Annan sit proudly at the top of the league after a Mike Jack double and goals from Steve Archibald and Darren Johnstone saw them come from behind to make a dream start to their Division 3 campaign at Central Park on Saturday.

Ironically, the build-up to their first-ever SFL fixture was far from ideal: Thursday’s training was shambolic, revealed manager Harry Cairney, and the team bus arrived so late following a traffic jam on the Forth Road Bridge that kick-off was delayed 20 minutes.

“I couldn’t believe it and was thinking of all the negative publicity we were going to get,” admitted Cairney. “I was even contemplating walking the players across the bridge and getting a minibus to pick us up at the other end.”

The visitors soon fell behind to a Paul McQuade goal after the same player had missed an early sitter, and even the award of a 29th-minute penalty for a push on defender Kevin Neilson caused further concern for Cairney.

“I was a wee bit anxious because Mike (Jack) had actually missed his last two penalties in pre-season matches,” he admitted.

“It was fantastic to see him send the keeper the wrong way and hit the back of the net.”

It was the club’s first-ever senior goal, and suddenly the momentum swung in Annan’s favour with Cairney also making a vital tactical switch: “We were getting caught out with balls over the top, but we sorted that by sitting a bit deeper in defence.”

Annan began the second half with a bang as Jack volleyed them in front with a stunning effort from the edge of the box. “I was there for the knock-down and just hit it, and it went flying into the top corner,” he recalled.

The hard-working Archibald made it three with a tenacious, scrambled goal after 58 minutes and Jack suggested: “That was really important because at 2-1 Cowdenbeath still had a chance.”

Despite only 30 days to prepare since joining the league, Annan were now dominating a side that had beaten Hibs in a friendly barely four days earlier.

Johnstone completed Annan’s well-deserved win in injury time with a spectacular curling drive. It was just reward for a tireless individual display and proved enough to pip Stenhousemuir at the top of the table.

“I know it won’t be like this every week,” conceded Cairney. “There’s a lot of hard work to be done, but we’ll keep striving.”

Jack added: “We’ve got a good squad with some good players, but you wouldn’t have expected that in your first match. We’ll take confidence from this, but we’ve got to build on it now.”

C owd e n b e at h : Hay, Cennerazzo, Adamson, McGregor, Mbu, Hodge, Fairbairn, Shields, McQuade, Ramsay (Linton 64), Tomana (Gemmell 46). Unused - Morris, Fleming, Robertson.

Annan Athletic: Summersgill, Brown, Inglis, Townsley, Neilson, Jack, Sloan, Jardine, Archibald, Johnstone, Hutchin (Adamson 66). Unused - Calder, Hill, Grainger, Parker.

Re f e r e e : Neil Watters
Attendance: 596