Galabank, November 14th 2009

Annan Athletic 0 Elgin City 2

By Chris

From the glorious sunshine of the north to the wild wet winds of the south. We stepped down a couple of divisions to take in a mid table encounter between Annan Athletic and Elgin, hardly a fixture that immediately jumped out at us but it turned into an interesting afternoon. Jamie once again took on the driving duties and to be brutally honest it was a horrible drive down ' gusty winds and driving rain to the point where we were wondering whether the game would actually go ahead. When we joined the M74 things took a further turn for the worse when we our journey was temporarily halted due to a fatal accident on the other side of the motorway. The rain did begin to relent a little as we finally reached Annan where after a brief walk round the rather desolate town we stopped off for a pre match sandwich.

Almost on cue as we stepped out the car at the ground the rain stopped and the sunshine broke through ' our incredible run of good weather was set to go on. Annan are the newest club to join the Scottish league having replaced Gretna in 2008 and in truth their park still resembles that of an amateur side with just one little stand occupying the ground. The small building at the front houses the dressing rooms and the stadium bar and there is a separate section at the far end for the visiting fans (which seemed a little unnecessary given there were only 10-20 Elgin supporters). However small the ground may have been in stature it was a welcoming place none the less.

Unfortunately there was a delay in the pie man bringing in his delivery so our pre match ritual was temporarily on hold but the van did finally pull up at five to three to a gaggle of excited children. We quickly realised that each side would face an uphill struggle at some point in the match given the astonishing slope on the park, the home side were first to face the mountainous challenge. The teams emerged to the thunderous sound of the A Team theme and a crowd of 400 or so punters. Given the sodden conditions on the pitch the opening stages of the game was an interesting spectacle ' both sides showing good commitment with whole hearted challenges and Annan creating 2 or 3 decent openings but failing to break the deadlock.

Into the second half and it quickly became obvious that the home side would regret not taking their chances. It was James Bond himself, David Niven, who bulleted a header from a corner to give Elgin the advantage. Annan struggled to get back into the game, the final ball often letting them down and their cause was further hampered when Peter Watson rather harshly received a second booking. Elgin wrapped up the win 2 minutes from time when Kyle MacAulay drilled home from the edge of the box. The score line was perhaps a little harsh on Annan but in truth they had a mountain to climb after losing the first goal and never really hit their peak in the match. And I think that's enough slope jokes for one week.

Journey - 2
Pie - 4
Bovril - 7
Ground - 6
Game - 5