Annan exceed their own targets in first SFL term

May 13 2009 by Craig Robertson, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

IN THE END, Annan bobbled over the finishing line at the hands of a 3-1 defeat from Third Division Champions Dumbarton.

This final game of the season was not one of their best.

But that was the only negative that could be taken as the fans left Galabank on Saturday night.

Because let’s remember this was the end of Annan’s first-ever season in the Scottish Football League.

It’s a season which has seen them finish in an excellent seventh position – just six points from the play-offs.

Their points total of 50 is way beyond their target of 36 which they hoped would secure a ninth-place finish.

For much of the season, they were the thorn in the side of many of the league’s top teams; scooping victory from the likes of Dumbarton, East Stirling and Cowdenbeath.

So the fans should not be disappointed that their hopes of almost finishing in the play-offs were dashed in the last couple of games.

They should be delighted with “almost”.

Speaking after Saturday’s match, Annan manager Harry Cairney, who has crafted his side from a successful East of Scotland league outfit into a competitive Third Division side, was determined to make sure the good work of this season would set the foundations for 2009/10.

He said: “I have no complaints about the season at all, if we had of predicted at the start of the season that we would win so many games and get so many points then we would have taken it any time.

“But when we sit back and look back at the whole season, we will know we’ve had a big success but I think it is disappointing the way it has fizzled out.

“We were just a wee bit short of really pushing for the play-off places, but it is always a start for next year.

“We knew there would be a good crowd here today and that’s why we were disappointed as we wanted to give the guys something to cheer about but it has been great in the community, our fans have been buzzing and it has been a real lift for the area.

“That’s the season over now and we need to start planning for next year because bigger things will be expected of them.”

Dumbarton took the lead after 23 minutes when Ross Clark tapped in a pass from Ross Forbes.

Not long after the second half got underway, the visitors made it 2-0 when Dennis McLaughlan’s low cross into the box fell out of the hands Annan keeper Craig Summersgill and McLaughlan was able to follow it up and slot the ball into the net.

But the home side managed to pull themselves together and kept Dumbarton in their own half.

Their pressure paid off in the 65th minute when Peter Watson was able to put the ball into the back of the net after a corner.

But Dumbarton finished the game in the 88th minute via a mistake from John Macbeth whose pass back to Summersgill was too short, allowing Dumbarton’s Derek Carcary to nip in and put the ball in the net.

It was the perfect end for some 600 Dumbarton fans who had made it a 1,343 record attendance at Galabank.

They then watched their team being presented with the trophy in by Irn Bru Marketing Director Jonathan Kemp and the SFL's Operations Director David Thompson.