Ground 34: Galabank

Galabank's Main Stand

Game: Annan Athletic 2 v 2 Elgin City

Date: Saturday 6^th April

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 3

Attendance: 379

Admission: £10

Programme: £1.50

Apologies for the lack of detail, my notes from this game were another victim of my phone falling down the drain.

The ecstasy and the agony, that’s what football can bring you. And that’s exactly what this game at Galabank brought those of us standing in the away end supporting Elgin.

When Dennis Wyness scored Elgin’s second in the 90^th minute to give Elgin an undeserved lead, the footballing world suddenly seemed full of possibilities – three points would have made a serious contribution to Elgin’s play-off push. Yet somehow, still in stoppage time, Elgin managed to throw their win away.

In what had been a drab first half – it says a lot when the highlights were the songs being played at the start of each half as the teams made their way out (“Heroes” by David Bowie and The A-Team theme). It allowed an opportunity to reflect on Galabank. It’s a tight but lovely ground on the outskirts of the town. Housed in the middle of a social club and another artificial pitch. There’s a small main stand and two terraces behind the goal. The away fans are housed in one of these, with an elevated position which makes it brilliant for watching a game. The far touchline is a wooden fence as the road runs right next to it.

Annan were very different from the side that we had watched a week ago in Peterhead. Perhaps they are more comfortable playing on their own artificial pitch, but they were much improved. Elgin on the other hand, didn’t really get going.

Elgin looked at their poorest when Annan attacked down the right. Elgin substituted left-back McMullan for McKinnon, but neither had a good game. It was down this flank that Annan got both their goals. With twenty minutes to go, Iain Chisholm scored a fantastic goal from 18 yards out that hit the top corner.

 

Gavin Morrison lines up his free-kick to earn Elgin's equaliser

Elgin pushed back, attempting to get themselves back in and eight minutes later, Gavin Morrison scored a fantastic free kick from the edge of the box.

Elgin took an improbably lead when they broke forward and after good work from the fantastic Stuart Leslie, the ball bounced and Dennis Wyness thrashed the ball home. The celebrations were short-lived, as less than a minute later, Annan once again broke down the right and David Hopkirk ran with the ball powering into the box and putting it past Joe Malin to salvage a point, which they rightly deserved.

Highlights from 16:53 on SFL TV (a service I didn’t know existed until this week) here: http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/sfltv/league/