Match Report

Annan Athletic v Stenhousemuir at Galabank, Annan on 20.04.21

SPFL League Two

Annan Athletic 5 [Flanagan 8, Wallace 10,27, Smith 72]  Stenhousemuir 1 [McGuigan 7]

Annan Athletic –Mitchell, Fulton, Clark, Hunter [Anderson 64], Douglas, Love, Wallace [Christie 80], Moxon [Watson 80], Smith [Docherty 80], Fleming and Flanagan [Currie 80]

Subs not used – Kinnear, Swinglehurst, McCaw and Emerson

Stenhousemuir – Martin, Corbett, Brydon, Little, Yeats, Hopkirk, Kane [Biabi 57], Tapping, Hodge [Blair 73], Collins [Muir 57] and McGuigan [Halleran 87]

Subs not used – Erskine, Grigor, Watters and Shiels.

Referee –Grant Irvine               Assistants – Scott Anderson and Gary Train

The last of the games before the split saw the Warriors travel to Annan for what had been announced officially earlier in the day would by David Irons last game in charge of the team. Three changes were made to the team that had played Stranraer last Thursday with David Hopkirk, Thomas Collins amd Mark McGuigan all starting.

The Warriors almost opened the scoring in the 6^th minute when a David Hopkirk cross was almost turned in to his own net by Ross Love but Matty Douglas cleared off the line. The visitors didn’t have long to wait to though before they took the lead when Mark McGuigan capitalised on a poor pass back by Owen Moxon to slot home. The lead didn’t last long though as Moxon redeemed himself splitting the defence for Nathan Flanagan to fire home. A minute later Annan took the lead when Tony Wallace tucked the ball home from another defence spiting pass by Moxon.

The Warriors looked to have eventually settled down when they lost their third goal in the 27^th minute when a decent passing move by the home side ended with Tony Wallace smashing a half volley into the net giving Paddy Martin no chance in the Stenhousemuir goal. Jack Hodge had a chance in the 32^nd minute to get on the scoresheet from an Adam Corbett long throw that wasn’t cleared but his shot was weak and easily dealt with. That was the only time that they came close to getting back into the game in the first half.

Although Stenhousemuir had plenty of the ball in the second period they lacked penetration and Alex Mitchell in the Annan goal was never threatened with the Annan defence usually mopping up the danger. At the other end Paddy Martin was beaten once again in the 72^nd minute when a Flanagan cross from the right was headed home at the far post by Aiden Smith. Four minutes later Flanagan cut in once again but this time hit a powerful shot just over the bar. In the 79^th minute McGuigan had a great chance to get a consolation goal but his header from a Tommy Muir cross from six yards out went wide. With two minutes of normal time A Tommy Muir turn and shot went just wide. The home side went nap on the 90 minute mark when the ball was chested down by Iain Anderson to Darren Christie who fired home from the edge of the box to complete a miserable night for the Warriors as sadly David Iron’s time at Stenhousemuir ended with a whimper rather than a roar.

With this being the last game before the split we now know the opposition and the dates for our post split games. We start our matches with a home game against Cowdenbeath on Saturday the  24^th of April. This is followed by an away game at Annan on Tuesday the 27^th and a home game against Albion Rovers on Thursday the 29th before we complete our season at Glebe Park against Brechin City on Tuesday 4^th of May.