Match Report

Annan Athletic were knocked out of this seasons South of the Scotland Challenge Cup by South of Scotland League side Crichton

The Crichton showed their intent in the first five minutes when former Black and Gold favourite Graeme Bell gave them the lead and they didn’t take long to double it when Jamie Philips added a second minutes later. Annan were struggling to get into the game and when goalkeeper Craig Murray gave away a penalty it looked like the tie would be over in the first twenty minutes but the Annan keeper redeemed himself and made a fantastic save to deny the Crichton a third. It was just the boost the Black and Gold’s needed and from this they managed to finally gain a foothold in the game. After some great play from Luke Hammond he sent Jordan Moffat clean though on goal and the tricky forward pulled a goal back after having his initial effort blocked.

Annan came out the second half and started where they left off putting the home defence under some real pressure and it took a great save from keeper Cathro to deny Annan’s Zak Caldwell and this proved the turning point as the Crichton went straight up the pitch and restored there two goal lead through Thomson. Annan responded immediately and a deflected effort made it’s way by Cathro to make it 3-2. Cathro prevented Annan from levelling when again he denied Caldwell with another great save, as the Galabankies chased an equaliser they were dealt a blow when Kieran McCrudden received a straight red card for bringing down goalscorer Bell after his good skill had seen him work his way past the defender. This proved to be the last real action of the game and left the young Annan side ruing their poor start as the Jubilant Crichton moved onto the next round