Cove Rangers put Annan to the sword last Saturday; the Highland League champions knocking Athletic out of the Scottish Cup at the first time of asking. Being philosophical it is not a disaster; the Titanic sinking was a disaster! From a finance side a team of Annan’s stature should always budget to be knocked out in their first game then anything extra is a bonus. The weather by all accounts ( which is the same for both sides) was  deplorable  but after taking an early lead through Peter Watson and facing just 10 men for the majority of the match it is very disappointing to lose the match for everyone connected to the club. However everyone should remember the words of Rudyard Kipling in his legendary moral poem If –

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

            So there you go, no more steamy windows (ask the committee about their view of the match) or fly away sunlight roofs for this season (surely Kian!), let’s get back on the bus and head for league leaders East Stirling this week. Bus fares are reduced and the Warriors Club beckons. The bus leaves at 10.30am and there are still a few seats left.