There is no shortage of confidence at Annan Athletic as the club prepares for this afternoon’s visit of Morton in the second round of the Tennent’s Scottish Cup. A record crowd will attend and Henry McClelland, the Annan chairman, is prepared to guarantee that they will go away having experienced the greatest day in the club’s history. Annan have never previously beaten a Scottish Football League club in the competition.
“I am not contemplating any other result than an Annan victory,” McClelland says as he awaits the visit of the Greenock side, second division leaders and the biggest club involved in this stage of the cup.
“That’s not just bravado. This year is the first time we’ve won our Qualifying Cup and I also predicted we’d get Morton in the Scottish Cup.
“I also believe Annan Athletic’s destiny this season is to get Rangers in the Scottish Cup. At quarter past five, after the match, we will be pulled out of the hat to meet Rangers in the third round.
“We have the best form of any non-league team in Scotland going into the game. Last season, Spartans held St Mirren to a draw. I don’t believe Morton are at the same level as St Mirren and I definitely know we’re equal to or better than Spartans last season.”
The East of Scotland League form of Annan is impressive — they sit five points off the top with three games in hand, having won 11 matches out of 12 and drawn the other, away to Spartans.
An extra weapon in Annan’s armoury for today’s match is that Harry Cairney, their manager, has a fair idea of what will be going through the Morton players’ minds as they step on to Annan’s Galabank pitch. Cairney was a member of the Brechin City side that was the last league team to visit Annan on Scottish Cup business and he remembers how intimidating it felt to play in front of a crowd packed close in to the park.
Brechin escaped with a 3-2 victory that day in January 2000, on which a crowd of 1,650 was present, the best attendance at Galabank until today, when upwards of 2,500 are expected, including a large contingent from Greenock.
Cairney was so impressed by that visit with Brechin that it made the Annan job immediately attractive to him when offered it for the first time in December 2003. He is now in his second spell as manager after taking a year away to manage Arbroath and initially sounds more chairman-like than his chairman when assessing the prospect of victory.
“It’s very good financially to get the best-supported club in the cup at home,” Cairney says. “A good financial draw was the priority. As to progressing through, this draw makes it a lot more difficult but you can’t have everything.
“We try to attack teams — we’ve averaged over three goals a game in the league and we will approach this one the same as every game. I don’t see any reason to change our tactics.”
The Annan team includes Gary McMenamin and Russell McGuffie, whose brothers Colin and Ryan, respectively, once of Annan, are now spearheading Gretna’s push for promotion to the Premierleague. Chris Jardine, the club captain, was previously with Rangers.
During Cairney’s year as manager of Arbroath he crossed swords with Jim McInally, the Morton manager, three times in the second division. “I had no success at all,” Cairney laughs. Morton won every time. Cairney, 45, even played for Brechin against several of the Morton players before his retirement as a player at 41.
The move back into non-league football has been beneficial for Cairney — his chairman’s statements may be of a heady nature, but in financial matters, the Annan board are secure and sensible, avoiding debt and spending only when the funds are available. An outlay of £250,000 has, in the past five years, financed a new 500-seater stand, opened a year ago, and an all-weather training pitch.
“At Arbroath, budgets were getting cut all the time,” Cairney says, “it was very difficult to motivate players with the things that were going on behind the scenes. I found the people at Annan very positive and not, as at Arbroath, all doom and gloom and negative.”
It is a comparison pertinent to the wider issues surrounding today’s tie. Cairney and McClelland feel frustration that their well-run, progressive club currently has no means of entry to the Scottish League, in which, they believe, less ambitious clubs are pampered into a lazy approach by the lack of relegation.
“It’s a massive issue to us,” McClelland says, “We are very much against the structure of Scottish football the way it is just now. It is completely unfair. We would support a pyramid system or Junior clubs being allowed into the Scottish League; anything that opens it up.”
Claiming the scalp of Morton today would help to bolster substantially McClelland’s argument. The club have arranged their annual Christmas party for this evening but the festive celebrations would be outdone for glitter by Annan unwrapping a victory this afternoon.
Fixtures today
Second round
Annan Athletic v Morton
Berwick Rangers v Arbroath
Brechin City v Preston Athletic
Cowdenbeath v Edinburgh University
Deveronvale v Fraserburgh
Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion
Elgin City v Buckie Thistle
Peterhead v Ayr United
Raith Rovers v Dumbarton
Stranraer v Forfar Athletic
Third round
The draw for the third round will take place at 5pm today, live on BBC Scotland television and radio.
