Damage in the Box!: ANNAN ATHLETIC (Galabank)

Another trip north of the border, but this one had been planned well in advance. The only concern, like the previous few weeks, had been the rain, with lots of the wet stuff hitting the borders region overnight. The go ahead was given so it was the simple, but boring, journey up the M6 to Dumfries and Galloway.

Annan are enjoying only their second season in the Scottish League (having replaced Gretna in 2008) and are handily placed just outside the play-off zone (last season they just missed out when they failed to win any of their last five games). Queens Park as everyone knows are one of the most famous names in Scottish Football but find themselves in the bottom tier after losing in their relegation play off last season.

Galabank is a very compact ground with a stand down one side of the pitch and terracing down the other. The only cover is in the stand, which given the weather it was a good job I had my brolly with me!The pitch is pretty narrow, a point which has not been lost on the authorities as Annan have to widen this, which means a little of the terrace will be lost, but not until next season at least. Again, like previous weeks, the pitch looked in good condition but very heavy. There was actually another pitch inspection at 2pm (unbeknown to me) and it was 50/50 whether the game would go ahead but the referee gave the green light. Phew! Amazing what a bit of sand can do!!

The first half of game was not the best in all honesty and I thought my run of not witnessing a 0-0 this season was going to end today. That was until Mike Jack curled in a superb effort just a minute before half time to break the deadlock, arguably against the run of play. Prior to that both teams had chances but barely troubled the respective 'keepers, Queen's Park probably just edging the count. David Cox had Annan's best chance but he fired wide when one-on-one with the 'Keeper, whilst at the other end Queen's Park had an effort from Martin McBride that hit the crossbar, Michael Daly had the re-bound cleared off the line before Ryan Holms fired over. It wasn't long after that Jack hit his effort, proving the old adage...if you don't take your chances....

The second half was 11 minutes when The Spiders finally hit the target. Ryan Holms cut in from the wing and fired home past the despairing dive of Greg Kelly in the Athletic goal. Instead of this equaliser sparking the game into life, it had the opposite effect and the game just became a turgid midfield battle with plenty of endeavour, but very little creativity. The game was petering out into a bore draw when, with ten minutes left, an Annan corner was swung into the box and Bryan Gilfillan headed home unmarked at the far post. With four minutes remaining Doug Philstorey powered into the penalty area and was hauled down by Spiders 'keeper Peter Hamilton, who was lucky to be only yellow carded. Mike Jack dispatched the resulting penalty to give Annan the three points.

A very enjoyable trip today. We were given a very warm welcome from the officials at Galabank, the Chairman even namechecked us in the programme, which was a pleasant and very nice surprise. The day was complemented by a haggis supper from the Cafe Royal and a couple of real ales (Galloway Gold & Cranky Flannen) at the GBG recommended Blue Bell.

Looking forward to my next Scottish jaunt in January.