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ANNAN ATHLETIC 2-4 COVE RANGERS

The team put in another impressive away performance to clinch second place and round off the League One season in style. Findlay Marshall and Quinn Coulson had us two up by the break, and despite Annan reducing the arrears, Adam Emslie came off the bench to secure the victory with a well-taken double.

With Queen of the South doing what they had to, we now know we will be heading for Dumfries on Tuesday night for the first leg of the playoff semi-final.

With that in mind, Paul Hartley had made seven changes for the trip to Galabank with Nick Suman, Will Gillingham, Blair Yule, Mitch Megginson, Dylan Lobban, Adam Emslie and Fraser Fyvie all dropping out from last week’s draw against Kelty.

Balint Demus returned in goal, there was a first start since early December for Finlay Murray, and recalls too for Findlay Marshall, Declan Glass, Quinn Coulson, Grady McGrath and Myles Gaffney.

Ryan Harrington and Mikey Doyle maintained their ever-present records for the season, each starting for the forty-fourth time. By the end of the match Doyle had been on the pitch for the entire 3,960 minutes the team has played.

With their own playoff venture to consider, Annan also made sweeping alterations, leaving a number of key players on the bench.

The home side kicked-off on a warm, sunny afternoon but it was Cove who were to enjoy the better of the early exchanges. Gaffney forced a corner in the fourth minute, Arron Darge heading wide from Coulson’s delivery, then Glass let fly from twenty-five yards, Fleming diving to his right to flop on the ball.

Myles Gaffney profited from poor defending to run into the box, only to drag his shot wide, but the opener was delayed only by seconds.

Another mix-up in the Annan back-line saw Findlay MARSHALL gather the ball and the midfielder raced clear. With Fleming advancing off his line, Findlay showed the composure required to round the keeper, and slot into the gaping net. It was his eighth goal of what has been an impressive campaign.

Following a quieter spell, Murray’s long ball set up a promising attack, and after Marshall and Glass had switched the attack, Harrington took possession and cut infield, but his drive from the edge of the box was charged down.

Annan began to see more of the ball, and put together some nice passing moves, but our defence stood firm, and Demus was only called into action to collect a few crosses.

We doubled our advantage with ten minutes remaining in the first half.

After a midfield skirmish, Findlay Marshall poked the ball through and Quinn COULSON stretched to get a toe on it to divert it beyond Fleming. Under pressure from Gaffney, Todd might got the final touch, but with his effort on target, the goal was rightly credited to the Cove winger.

Good link-up between Grady McGrath and Marshall offered up another opportunity for Quinn soon after, but he could not get enough power on his header, and Fleming saved easily.

Marshall then set McGrath free on the right and he wriggled past two defenders, but Myles Gaffney was unable to turn home his low delivery.

We resumed the more dominant side after the interval, Gaffney slipping in behind on the left, but Fleming was down quickly to clutch his low shot.

Out of the blue, Annan revived their hopes with a quality strike. Paul SMITH gathered in midfield and caught his twenty-five yard drive sweetly, the power and accuracy leaving the diving Demus with no chance.

There was a scare soon after when Luca Ross chased a long pass and got in behind Parker, but could only lift the ball narrowly over the bar as he attempted to chip the keeper.

The manager threw on Dylan Lobban and Adam Emslie for Coulson and McGrath on the hour mark and we very nearly made the changes count instantly. Lobban won the ball deep in his own half before finding Declan Glass, who raced forward and passed wide to Emslie. Adam got to the bye-line and cut the ball back for Glass to run on to, his well struck shot crashing off the face of the crossbar.

Annan would have levelled in their next attack but for a world class save from Balint Demus. Having found space just six yards out, Aaron Brown looked certain to score with a powerful strike, but the big keeper threw out his left hand to divert the ball to safety. The importance of the stop was emphasised when we went 3-1 ahead soon after.

Ryan Harrington played a pass in from the left and Adam EMSLIE gathered before reversing a clever low shot inside Fleming’s right post, leaving the goalkeeper rooted to his line.

By then, Annan had made a quadruple substitution, with the towering Tommy Goss among the newcomers. Paul Hartley countered by putting on Will Gillingham to deal with the striker’s height as he reverted to a back three.

Our victory was confirmed in the seventy-third minute after a swift counter-attack. The ball was played through for Adam EMSLIE who took a touch to steady himself then blasted a low angled drive across the keeper and inside the far post.

Aidan SMITH got one back late on, turning to shoot from inside the box. Demus got a hand to his strike but could not keep it out.

Arron Darge came close to making it five, sliding in to make contact with a clever low Declan Glass free-kick, but Fleming made an instinctive save to keep the ball out, clawing it to safety.

That was to be the last serious action of what has been a long, hard League One season, the victory setting the team up for the playoffs, and a shot at glory.

ANNAN ATHLETIC (3-4-3): Fleming; Bisland, Todd (c) (T. Muir 65), Kilsby; R. Muir, A. (Smith 65), Strachan, P. Smith (Goss 65), Ross; Dixon, Brown, Carmichael (McGowan 65)

Substitutes: Smith, Gibson

Goalscorers: P. Smith (50), A. Smith (84)

Booked: Bisland (84)

COVE RANGERS (4-4-2): Demus; Doyle (c), Murray, Parker, Harrington; Marshall, Glass, Darge, Coulson (Lobban 60); McGrath (Emslie 60), Gaffney (Gillingham 66)

Substitutes: Suman

Goalscorers: Marshall (10), Coulson (35), Emslie (67), (73)

Booked: Darge (84)

Referee: Graham Grainger

Attendance: 415

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