ANNAN ATHLETIC 2 SHIRE 1

There was heartbreak at Annan for Shire as the team went down to a last-minute defeat.

After Colin Cramb had given Shire the lead the home side came more into the game and equalised via the penalty spot five minutes after the interval. Annan sensed victory from that moment on, although it seemed Shire would survive until Sean Sloan’s injury-time strike.

Shire again rung the changes after the Challenge Cup defeat against Morton. Coach Jim McInally brought in Michael Bolochoweckyj, David Nicholls, David Dunn and Brian Graham into the starting line-up and again changed the formation to a 3-5-2.

The visiting fans who made the trip to Dumfriesshire got into the tidy Galabank ground early and it was just as well; Shire took the lead after just 53 seconds. David Dunn fed Jimmy Gibson and his perfectly-judged pass released Colin Cramb. The striker waited until he could see the whites of Annan keeper Craig Summersgill’s eyes before cleverly lobbing the ball over him into the back of the net.

That must have given Shire high hopes and they continued to dominate the opening few minutes. David Nicholls sent a 30 yard drive over the bar and Derek Ure had the keeper scrambling across goal to usher his 20 yard effort wide of his right-hand post. And all this inside the first four minutes.

The pressure was maintained and Annan’s Neilsen was forced into a desperate header behind from a Jimmy Gibson cross with Graham lurking at the back post. On the quarter hour Cramb should have made it 2-0. Nicholls played the ball over the defence and Cramb again found himself one-on-one with the keeper. But in trying another lob he got his angles wrong, allowing Summersgill to catch the ball at its full height.

Annan certainly had no intention to sit back and take it, and twice within a minute midfielder Jack had tested John Hillcoat with two shots from the eighteen yard line.

The home team was warming to its task and on 26 minutes Sloan unleashed a netbound effort from 12 yards which Hillcoat dived full-length to turn away. But on 34 minutes Shire hit back and Paul Hay crossed for Graham to try an overhead kick from eight yards which Summersgill held onto on the goalline.

But there was no doubt the tide seemed to be turning in the home side’s favour. After 39 minutes Townsley chipped the ball over the stranded Hillcoat and only Bolochoweckyj’s clearing header prevented an equaliser.

Four minutes later Sloan cut in past Hay on the right wing and blazed over the bar when he really should have scored.

Five minutes after the break Annan did find the net, albeit through a penalty kick. Archibald was put clean through and Hillcoat made a rash challenge, rushing from his box to bring him down. Referee Salmond was in no doubt it was a penalty and although the Shire keeper got a hand to Jack’s spot kick he couldn’t prevent it entering the net.

There was little doubt Annan were by far the likelier team and on 64 minutes they should have taken the lead. Sloan released Archibald down the right and his cross seemed perfectly placed for Johnstone at the back post but the former Stenhousemuir man somehow put the ball wide from point-blank range.

Shire were rarely seen as an attacking force but Eddie Forrest’s long ball again put  Cramb clear and although he was forced wide he still crossed for Graham, who might have scored but for a desperate clearance from Neilsen.

 Shire sent on Craig Donaldson and Sean Anderson for Dunn and Hay in a bid to turn the tide of the match but the ball had a habit of coming back on top of them. Marc McKenzie came on for Nicholls and his 20 yarder not long after stung the fingertips of Summersgill.

But the final five minutes were frantic around the Shire penaty box. Johnstone slid in at the back post from Inglis cross and then Sloan cut the ball back for Townsley to send in a 20 yard thunderbolt which went just too high.

Annan laid siege to the Shire goal and on 88 minutes  a free-kick from wide on the right was played in by Jack and it only just eluded the head of substitute Bell at the back post.

In the first minute of injury injury time Sloan got a lucky break of the ball off Bolochoweckyj and ran unchallenged towards goal before unleashing a 20 yard effort which flew past Hillcoat for a deserved winner.

ANNAN ATHLETIC : Summersgill, Brown, Inglis, Hill, Neilson, Jack, Sloan, Jardine, Archibald(Adamson 69), Johnstone(Bell 86), Townsley.

SHIRE : Hillcoat, Hay(Anderson 66), Ure, Bolochoweckyj, Tully, Forrest, Dun(Donaldson 66), Gibson, Cramb, Nicholls(McKenzie 76), Graham.

REFEREE : G. Salmond

ATTENDANCE : 958.