Scottish Cup 2nd Round: Annan Athletic 1-2 Spartans

Nov 3 2008 Daily Record

ROSS ARCHIBALD admitted a sense of injustice helped Spartans dump Annan and maintain their fine cup record against league sides.

The 26-year-old defender, who put a nightmare start to the tie behind him to complete his side's fightback by nodding home the winner, revealed the Spartans players were motivated by a desire to put one over on their old East of Scotland rivals, who pipped them into the SFL in the summer.

Archibald said: "We just treated them as a normal league side but maybe there was a feeling we wanted to put one over on them because we felt we deserved to be in the league.

"Nothing was made about it in the dressing room but maybe subconsciously we wanted to prove a point.

"I've not scored many goals so it was a bit of a surprise to get the winner. I felt I had to make amends after the first 20 minutes because I don't think I played particularly well. In fact I thought I had a bit of a shocker and I should have done a lot better at their goal.

"It was a great feeling to get the goal. It's easily the most important of my career because it has helped maintain the status of the club as a good cup side. It's almost bittersweet that we've turned them over because at the end of the day they're still in the SFL and that's where we want to be.

"It's disappointing we're not in the league but this has proved we can compete at that level."

Atrip to Elgin is next up for the East of Scotland side and Archibald insists they have nothing to fear.

He said: "We'll go to Elgin as underdogs but believe we can turn them over.

"They will be of much the same level as Annan so we've got nothing to fear. Because we've played so many league sides over the years, it is not a case of going into the unknown any more."

Although Spartans wanted to prove a point there was never any chance of this developing into a grudge match. Both sets of fans and officials mingled in the Annan clubhouse before and after the game, while on the park there was never any danger of things boiling over.

Annan looked on course to justify their election to the SFL when Kevin Neilson headed them in front after 10 minutes.

The Galabank men enjoyed the best of the first half but were unable to add to their tally.

And they were made to pay within five minutes of the restart, Gavin Malin firing the Edinburgh side level with a fine 20-yarder before Archibald nodded home Robbie Manson's free-kick two minutes later.

Spartans co-boss Mike Lawson said: "We always knew we could get a result - we didn't have anything to prove.

"I think everyone knew there wouldn't be much difference in the teams. All it proved is that the top non-league teams are good enough to compete in the Third Division.

"It's time there was a pyramid system that allowed us to play our way into the SFL because it's terrible that teams like ourselves should have to wait for a team to go out of business to have a crack at it."

Annan manager Harry Cairney said: "We did well in the first half, but credit to Spartans, they started the second half well.

"Losing the two goals so early made us frantic. We shouldn't have allowed their goals to affect us so much."