No bonus point for Annan after draw

ANNAN lost out on a bonus point in their opening League Cup match against Forfar Athletic. But it wasn’t the result that had the home Galabank faithful most concerned after a trio of their star players fell foul to injury. With Wullie Gibson on holiday, Stevie Bell took charge of the team and they didn’t get off to the best start. A dangerous delivery into the Annan box fell to Christopher Scott but he blasted wide from close range. The Loons would take the lead on 17 minutes when a Craig Slater free-kick was bundled into the net by Martin Rennie. Just before the opener, Josh Dixon picked up a knee knock and had to come off for debutant Euan Deveney. Scott Shepherd was close to scoring Forfar’s second but his shot was saved by new goalkeeper Zach Balfour. And just before the interval, Scott Hooper had to be subbed off after suffering a hamstring injury. Joel Mumbongo replaced Hooper and unbelievably he was next to suffer the injury bug. The forward fell to the ground with no one near him and had to be helped off the field with a knee injury. Annan started to get back into the contest and were awarded a penalty when Tommy Muir was bundled down by keeper Neil Stafford inside the box. And Aidan Smith made no mistake from the spot. After that it only looked like a matter of time until Annan would score another. However, Stafford was in inspired form to deny Smith his second. Smith’s close range header was palmed away by the keeper. And the keeper was the hero in the penalty shootout as he saved two Annan spot-kicks.