The Scottish Football Association have issued their Annual Report to the SFL clubs, Annan Athletic's record, the best in Division 3 (and the 2nd best of all 30 SFL clubs) has been rewarded with a commendation from the SFA.

The other clubs gaining commendations were Inverness Caley Thistle (Div 1) and Brechin City (Div 2).

Phil Storey's time at the club has finally come to an end. The player is being transferred to Longtown FC. Longtown play in the Carlisle & District County League.

The club wishes Phil well for the future.

The match officials for the Annan Athletic v Partick Thistle have been announced and are as follows:

Referee - Charlie Richmond

Assistant Referees - Brian Templeton Graham McNeillie

Medium Chris Conway & Club Captain Kev Neilson on this weekend's Co-operative Insurance 1st round tie at Galabank:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/8860283.stm

Living TV's Most Haunted 'Medium' and keen Annan Athletic Supporter Chris Conway is at Galabank this afternoon along with club captain Kevin Neilson doing their stuff to promote this weekend's bumper cup tie at Galabank. This is undoubtedly the club's biggest game and the first ever Co-Operative Insurance cup tie to be played at Galabank as we host Ian McCall's Partick Thistle.

Ian McCall is a Dumfries lad, his mother still lives in the town, many Annan folk, not least the Chairman of the club were taught English by Ian's father (known as Tam to pupils) at Annan Academy.

Annan have agreed to play in their all-blue 2nd choice strip this weekend as Partick Thistle have still to receive delivery of their 'away' strip.

With Annan Athletic's squad almost complete the club are holding their pre-season team photocall on thursday evening at 6:30pm, SNS will be present,any interested local press are invited

Manager Harry Cairney finally gets his man. Prolific striker Ian Harty penned a one year deal for the club late on friday night with the paperwork going thru the registration process with the SFA/SFL on saturday morning. Harty made his Annan debut against one of his former clubs Stenhousemuir in the MG Alba Challenge Cup. He looked a wee bit rusty at times but still showed a lot of promise.

A large number of Annan fans are asking what happened with the club's intended signing of Queen of the South's Jim Thomson. Quite simply Jim Thomson agreed terms with the club, he signed the paperwork but it was made quite clear that Jim Thomson was putting his U19's & Schools coaching position with Queens in jeopardy if he signed on at Galabank. As Jim is a Queens employee we understand their stance but find it very disappointing indeed.

Youngster Jamie Phillips has been released by the manager, the ex U19's player has trained with the first team and featured in pre-season games, unfortunately it was felt that the player needs to continue playing to develop, there is no doubt that Jamie has potential but as the club couldn't loan him out to a South of Scotland or other non SFL League club and play him as a trialist in reserve games then it was best not to sign him and let him go. There is already interest from Threave Rovers, Dalbeattie Star and Heston Rovers.

Annan Athletic have signed striker, Bryan Felvus, initially on a short term deal, 25 year old Bryan was top-scorer with East Junior Premier League side Fauldhouse Utd last season. Bryan had a two season spell at Queens Park as an 18 year old before playing for Albion Rovers before moving to the Juniors. The striker scored against Penrith in a 6-2 friendly win after appearing as a sub, last Sunday he grabbed a double in the 4-3 victory against Airdrie Utd.

Youngster Tom Clarke has not been retained by the club, the player was part of the U19 set-up last season and was invited to join the first team squad for pre-season training. Manager Harry Cairney complemented Tom for his efforts but thought it unfair to keep the youngster when his opportunities would be very limited.

The club have decided to put Phil Storey on the transfer list, the 18 year old striker has intimated he wishes to leave the club. Chairman Henry McClelland  commented, "we won't be hard to deal with, any reasonable offer for Phil will be considered, we have no intention to keep anyone out of the game but feel a fee for someone as talented as Phil is warranted". Storey made 57 appearances for the first team after breaking into the squad in our first SFL season.

David Cox and Kevin Neilson both miss out on our opening game this weekend due to suspension, Coxy is suspended for 1 match following his red card last weekend, Big Kev misses out after he picked up his second yellow of the competition in last season's semi-final as Dens Park.

On the signing front the club continues to look for a forward, last seasons leading scorer Graeme Bell has seen a specialist this week and will now undergo an operation in 4-6 weeks time. Meantime Belly is continuing to train as best he can and may feature at some point before going under the knife. Finally it looks like the club have once again lost out in their attempt to sign experienced defender Jim Thomson.

Annan Athletic have secured two players on loan from Motherewell FC, both players were signed up on friday afternoon and participated in both of Annan's friendlies over the weekend.

Both players are 19 and signed two year deals with the Fir Park Club earlier this summer.

Jordan Halsman is a left sided player who can play left back or left side midfield (where he was used this weekend to encouraging effect). The highlight of Jordan's career so far must have been his appearance for Motherwell in a SPL match at Parkhead last season. Jordan is signed with Annan until the mid season break.

Steven Lawless is another product from the youth set up at Fir Park, the ex-U19 Scotland International was 2nd top scorer in the SPL 19's league last season. Despite not scoring over the weekend there was some clear signs that this youngster is also blessed with quality. Steven is initially signed on at Annan on a 31 day emergency loan.

To protect the Galabank pitch tonights match for the U19's v Carlisle Utd's 19's on Galabank has been cancelled due to the torrential rain we have experienced over the last 24 hours. The scheduled games at the weekend against Ayr Utd and Airdrie United are not considered to be under threat.