Going the extra Myles!

ANNAN Athletic double goal hero Myles Gaffney admits he’s delighted with the way he’s started his Galabank career.

The centre forward, right, – who started his career with Hamilton before moving to Cove in 2023 and has enjoyed loan spells at Dalbeattie Star and Inverurie Locos – notched a brace and scored the winner in a dramatic 3-2 victory over Elgin City to earn Annan the points in their first League Two match of the season.

An ecstatic Gaffney – who netted twice as a trialist for the club against top flight St Mirren – said: “I’m absolutely delighted to score two goals and to score the winner right at the end after we thought we blew it was special. The most important thing is to get the three points and kick on to next week.

“It was my first league appearance for the club so I hope the fans can see what type of player I am.

“I’m not setting a goal target, I just want to take it game-by-game and try to score goals to help the team.”

Gaffney also showed character as he missed a sitter on the hour mark when Annan were trailing Elgin 1-0 earlier in the match. But he put that at the back of his mind as he calmly slotted in two brilliant finishes.

He added: “I should’ve scored that one but you can’t lose the head and beat yourself up about it. I told myself that I would get more chances in the game and I knew I had to take them.

“It was like a basketball game at the finish, it was end-to-end and was a thrilling finish. I’m glad we got the three points and sets us up for the rest of the season.”

And on signing for the club, Myles said: “I got in contact with the gaffer and played as a trialist against St Mirren. It suited both of us and we got it done, I’m delighted to be here. It’s important for me to get playing at this stage of my career.”

Annan boss Wullie Gibson praised Gaffney for his two goals.

He said: “Myles had two good finishes, we’ll let him off with the earlier miss. The change we made in the second half with myself and Max Kilsby coming on made a difference.

“I do have mixed emotions from the Elgin match. Yes, we won the game but I said to players that we can’t rely on us scoring three goals to win every game.

“I think the boys switched off at the end when Aidan scored what we thought was the winner.

“If you notice whenever we score, I make sure to get all the outfield players together to calm down, reset and refocus.

“I told them to see it out but we switched off, it can happen in football. But the good thing is we react, get up the pitch and score.

“We didn’t come back from behind enough last season so it’s good that the whole team showed character.”

The manager also provided an injury update. Striker Joel Mumbongo is expected to be out until December with his knee injury. Josh Dixon’s knee injury is not as bad as first thought and could be back within four weeks.

Meanwhile, Scott Hooper is taking his injury recovery slowly but is going for a back and hamstring scan in due course.