ANNAN Athletic's £100,000 floodlights barely had time to warm up before the plug was being pulled on yet another opportunity for the team to make an impact in the Scottish Cup.
Switched on at half time for the first time in a senior match, the impressive new system appeared to dazzle rather than inspire the Third Division team, whose fate was sealed by the concession of two goals in three minutes after the interval. Their
attempt at a comeback fizzled out long before the end of a match Spartans deserved to win.
The Galabankies have endured more than their fair share of letdowns in the famous old competition over the years. As one of the big hitters in the East of Scotland League, they tripped up too often in the qualifying rounds. Each time Annan did make it through, they were invariably felled at the first hurdle.
Elevation to Third Division status arrived in the summer at the expense of Saturday's opponents (and Cove Rangers) when they were voted into the Scottish Football League.
That and a revamped format meant Harry Cairney's team had the luxury of starting their cup campaign at the second-round stage this season, but Spartans must have been the last team they wanted to face.
Annan's one and only victory in the Scottish Cup was over ten years ago. Their old East of Scotland League friends and foes from Edinburgh, on the other hand, have a track record few can match when it comes to wining Scottish Cup ties against teams plying their trade at a higher level.
Another Third Division side, Elgin City, have the unenviable task of putting Spartans in their place in the third round. Since Mike Lawson joined Sam Lynch as co-manager eight years ago, the north Edinburgh team have won five of their six Scottish Cup ties against SFL opposition. Only St Mirren, then First Division leaders and eventual champions, managed to stop them – and needed a replay to do it. When asked to come from behind and win, Spartans are renowned specialists. Over the past five years, Buckie Thistle, Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Queen's Park and, only last month, Pollok have been unwilling victims, taking the lead in ties only to find themselves being overhauled and knocked out.
On a sunny, crisp autumn afternoon which permitted locals to remind their guests that they were arriving at the 'Costa Del Solway' – it was in stark contrast to the previous week's washout – Annan became the latest opponents to fall into the trap. Central defender Kevin Neilson's header from a Stuart Inglis corner after ten minutes gave the home side a narrow advantage at half time, but not long after the new pylons in each corner of the ground began to shine over Galabank, the lights went out on the players in black and gold.
Sapped of confidence following four successive defeats in the Third Division, the inevitability of Annan's plight was apparent all around the ground from the moment Gavin Malin's beautifully-executed strike from 20 yards rippled the top corner of the net to equalise.
When Ross Archibald glanced home a header from Robbie Manson's free-kick less than three minutes later, any self-belief Annan had left melted like an ice cube on a stove.
The experienced Spartans defence dealt comfortably with Annan's lame attempt to mount a comeback and, if anything, the visitors carried a more potent threat on the counter-attack for the rest of the game. There was no tub thumping from the visitors when the final whistle sounded, and no sour grapes from the hosts. Instead, Spartans were given the type of convivial reception they have become used to at Galabank.
For all that July's SFL election offered an intriguing backdrop to the occasion, the background was where it stayed. If Spartans were feeling smug, they weren't letting on. Revenge was never on the agenda, they insisted. Annan, for their part, said they never had nothing to prove. As if to underline the point, officials from both clubs might have fallen over one another in the rush to the bar, such was the urge to buy each other a drink as a reminder that there are no hard feelings either way.
