Our 2-1 victory in the second leg wasn't enough to turn the tie around after our 3-1 defeat at Cliftonhill four days earlier.

We were already facing a difficult task before Albion skipper Ciaran Donnelly put them further ahead at Galabank and although we bombarded them in the second half, we unfortunately just gave ourselves too much to do.

Bryan Gilfillan's two goals in the second leg of the play-off against Albion Rovers weren't enough to secure promotion for Annan. Photo: SNS

It was quite emotional in the dressing room immediately after the game as no-one really knew what to say.

We were all proud of what we achieved but still felt that we should have gained promotion.

There wasn't too much the manager could say to lift us. It was a case of "you'll be disappointed for a few days but we'll get our rest and come back for another shot next season".

Just at that point someone from the club brought a couple of cases of beer in and we all shared a toast together before getting our showers and heading in to the club to share a few more - beers, that is, not toasts!

The place was busy with supporters from both clubs after the game but there were about 10 of us who stayed and we eventually managed to get a seat together and get a few drinks without putting our hands in our pockets.

The club supplied the beer and Ciaran Donnelly supplied the Jagermeister! Ciaran and Robert Love came over to wish us all the best and brought over a tray of shots.

As disgusting as the drink was, it was a nice touch and says a lot about those two. We wish them and Albion Rovers well in the Second Division next season.

As the final whistle went, I knew I'd be drowning my sorrows. All things considered we had a really good night. I really do wonder what we would have been like had we managed that promotion.

A few of us were down at the club on Tuesday night for talks regarding next season and the supporters' club was there too, having its AGM.

The guys brought a local paper in and were quick to show us the headline: "GILFILLAN: I'M BETTER THAN DIVISION THREE!"

It's fair to say that Gilly wasn't too happy with how they worded the story, the headline in particular. I'm sure the boys won't let him forget that one in a hurry.

So, Tuesday night was when my week took a turn for the better after Sunday's disappointment when I signed a new one-year contract with the club.

I was absolutely delighted when the manager said he wanted me to remain at the club and I was in and out of his office within five minutes.

If I wasn't going to be playing football for Annan Athletic next season then I wasn't playing football; it was that simple for me.

So simple, in fact, that I just signed the forms they gave me and left the manager and secretary to fill in the blanks.

While I'll continue at Galabank in to the new season, unfortunately this will be my last blog for the BBC.

I'd like to thank everyone for their support in reading the column and leaving comments both positive and negative. I never expected to be doing this for three years but I've enjoyed it immensely and I hope some of you have too.

You might read the odd thing from me in the future but I really hope that you continue to look out for Annan Athletic and continue to follow our progress.

We're a very proud bunch and it's a remarkable achievement after only our third season in the SFL.

We enjoyed the moment and it was a special feeling knowing you're potentially only two matches away from promotion.

Annan's Jack Steel (left) battles for possession with Albion Rovers' Steven Canning. Photo: SNS.

The boys were conscious of the feelings of the Alloa players and fans as we knew they had been relegated so we hope that we never went overboard with the celebrations.

I'm sure there will be positive feelings about the club already after just appointing Paul Hartley as their new player/manager. I wish the club all the best in the Third Division next season but forgive me when I say that I really hope we're not facing each other again for at least another year; unless it's in the Cup of course.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to continue the celebrations home as I was heading through to stay with family in South Queensferry before Rugby Park the following day. I was getting a lift through with a few members of the Edinburgh Supporters Club and in the rush to get showered and changed I left my bag with my clothes for the next two days and nights underneath the medical table at Recreation Park!

All I had was my Annan tracksuit and some dirty training gear. What made it worse was the fact I never realised until the car pulled up to the Ferry. I thought the guys might have taken me back through but it wasn't to be! Only joking guys, you're generosity was very much appreciated.

Anyway, after an up-and-down start to the weekend it definitely got better; I even managed to get hold of my bag and changed in the toilets of a McDonalds somewhere along the M8 at 9.30am on Sunday morning. Thanks Mum! Monday quickly arrived again and it was back to work and thinking about Albion Rovers.

After a bit of a disastrous spell we ended up losing the first leg 3-1 up at Cliftonhill so it's going to take an almighty performance on Sunday to reach our new ambition.

I sat on the bench for about 85 minutes and I honestly never saw us losing that game. After going behind fairly early on we were the better side, got a deserved equaliser and should have been in front by half time.

We started the second half in the same fashion before we hit the self-destruct button with around 20 minutes left. A bad mistake allowed them to get ahead and we lost ourselves for a while after this and lost a further goal.

Credit must go to Robert Love for his hat-trick but he'll probably never score an easier one. He's a right good player and he has shown in the games against us this season why our club tried to attain his services during the summer.

There was a really good atmosphere at the game and the fans were crammed in to the main stand area at Cliftonhill. The players were delighted to see so many travelling supporters coming to see us and it was just disappointing we couldn't get a better result from them.

As I said at the beginning of my column, we've not given up on this tie and we hope that you haven't either. Galabank is a great little ground when it's packed out so there will be no greater lift for all of us than to see you come out in your numbers and support us as we try to turn this final around.

See you Sunday!

For whatever reason, there is no great love lost between ourselves and East Stirlingshire and that, coupled with trying to finish second in the league, meant that we really wanted to win the match. To be fair to them, they thoroughly deserved their victory and their celebrations at the end of the match showed exactly how much the win meant to them - as it meant they avoided finishing bottom of Division Three.

The manager made several changes to the side, some enforced and others through choice with the play-off semi-final first leg taking place only four days later. As things turned out, we found ourselves facing Alloa Athletic.

We had a brief discussion about them after training on Monday night, but when we go into any match, we always feel that the outcome is more down to what we do ourselves.
Our assistant manager, Andy Aitken, knew a bit more about individual players and touched on this before the match itself.

The final whistle went at the end of an entertaining match and it means we take a 2-1 "half-time" lead up to Recreation Park on Saturday. We were very pleased with the win and the performance, although disappointed to lose a goal and not have that cushion of two to take with us in to that second leg.

If anyone deserved to keep a clean sheet, it was our goalkeeper, Craig Summersgill. I thought he was outstanding and was very unlucky to concede the goal that he did after making a remarkable save initially before the ball rebounded off their player and over the line. If big Summers plays like that again on Saturday, we should feel confident that we can extend our season by another eight days.

You could tell the Alloa boys were obviously delighted to half the deficit to take home with them and, on the balance of play, they certainly deserved it. From the outset, though, we have felt that the pressure was all on the Second Division side and that won't change in Saturday's match.

People may think that 2-1 isn't a big enough lead to defend but that's not what we're all about. Almost the first words that came from the manager was that we would score at their place and that's what we're thinking about.

Of the four teams vying for that Second Division place, we're in the best position - we're the only ones with a lead after all.

I completely forgot to have a wee laugh at the expense of Ian Harty (pictured) a couple of weeks ago, so I'll do it while it's in my head just now. Harty was interviewed after scoring an overhead kick in our 1-1 draw at Stranraer recently and said to the reporter: "I am always trying them in training." Well, the wee man must have some size of a back garden and a goal set-up because he's only ever been at about three training sessions this season!

It was about as close to a perfect day as you could get; the lads were brilliant and I'm sure the 650 fans that were there enjoyed their day in the sun.

Jack Steele would have been perfect for my dream team with three assists and Sean "Des" O'Connor scored two peaches at just the right time.

Big Des probably hasn't scored as many goals as he would have liked but he is so important for the team and has been excellent since he was brought in. Ian Harty has taken the plaudits for his goal-scoring this season but with him missing we relied heavily on Des and he came up with the goods.

The boys certainly enjoyed the victory because of what it meant and I suppose the pre-arranged team night out was perfectly planned.

I couldn't make it but I managed to stay at the club for a couple of hours with the team and the supporters to celebrate what we had achieved.

Perhaps champions Arbroath were a little hungover at Galabank on Saturday...

So if that was the case and it was a league decider I think I could guarantee that we wouldn't have had it so easy against Arbroath.

Apparently the team night out went well and there weren't too many stories flying about at training on Tuesday night so I'm assuming the boys behaved themselves.

Everyone made their train home back to Dumfries and the Annan boys all got home at a reasonable hour although Peter Watson had to be helped up the road and in his front gate.

According to big Watto, he didn't think he was too bad but maybe the photograph of him scaling a traffic light in the town tells a different story!

Before the night out and immediately after the game, the supporters' club presented the trophies to their player of the year and away day player of the year. Aaron Muirhead won my trophy from last season as the away day player and Ian Harty was chosen as the player of the year.

Both winners were well deserved and those two have had good seasons so let's hope they've still got a bit left in the tanks to push us on in our remaining league game and the play-off semi-final.

We face East Stirlingshire in our final league game of the season and this will be treated as a very important match. We can still finish in second place but we can also fall to fourth.

I'm a bit unsure what my preference is but I know that for the club it would be more beneficial for us to finish in second. This would see us play the second leg at home but more importantly our home leg would be on the Saturday which would probably see us attract a better crowd.

I think the players see it differently in that we would rather travel to Coatbridge on the Saturday than face the journey, albeit a small one, after a shift at work on a Wednesday night. Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself here; there is a job to be done at Ochilview first.

I've been honest throughout my column this season that our target was to finish in the top four so whatever happens in the play-off games I think everyone associated with the club can be proud of our achievements.

We've done what was expected of us but now we have to move the goalposts slightly and aim that little but higher. We'll take it a step at a time but the target now is the play-off final.

To say it's been a frustrating time recently would be a bit of an understatement when I've only played for half an hour in our last four games.

I'd rather not be playing reserve games, to be honest, as it would mean I was playing regularly on a Saturday but the game alongside the majority of our Under-19s came at a good time.

Ian Harty rescued a point for Annan in last Saturday's 1-1 draw with Stranraer at Stair Park. Photo: SNS

It was an enjoyable game to play in and it's even better when you have young kids running about doing an old man's work.

Our Under-19s have come on leaps and bounds this season and it's testament to themselves and their coaches Euan (Buff) Brydson and Jim Brown. The team had a long, hard struggle last year but their development is really starting to show.

Quite a few of the boys had played in the reserve league last season but the team was mainly made up of more experienced players beside them.

With the first team having to play a lot of games since New Year we've had to rely on the 19s a lot more to play in these reserve games and they have done very well.

They had already taken care of Queen of the South and Stranraer in this competition before winning on Monday night against Mid-Annandale. This time the team has been predominantly Under-19s with only two or three first-team players thrown in.

A few of these boys have had the experience of being with the first team and I'm sure the manager was encouraged by what he saw on Monday night.

I'm not too sure about the age of many of them but some will be too old for the 19s age group and hopefully they can now take a step up and be integrated in to the first-team squad for next season.

As I've said in recent weeks, the thought of coaching is really starting to get a grip of me now and nights like Monday only re-emphasise that for me.

The thing I enjoyed most was passing my experience on to the kids during the game through communication and organisation. They have a super coach in Buff, who prepares them excellently and he continues that throughout the game.

When you're on the pitch you should be able to react quicker to something and make a decision and hopefully that's what I helped with on Monday night - as well as a wee bit of football now and again!

I think it's fair to say that players respond better to managers and coaches they know have played the game: I'm like that with Harry Cairney and Andy Aitken and it's the same with Buff and would be with Jimmy as well.

I would imagine the same would go for a younger player and that's why I would like to help the club and its youth players.

A lot of the kids are from the area and they come to the games and you can tell they enjoy seeing the first-team players and getting their high fives as we walk on and off the pitch.

I think it would be natural that if any of our players were to turn up at a coaching session it would give them a little boost and increase their enthusiasm. Hopefully, if I'm successful in getting my qualifications this is something I could bring to the club on a regular basis.

I'll finish by just touching on our position and performance after the weekend draw at Stranraer. First, I thought a draw was just about a fair result but I thought we were the better side...if that makes sense.

I thought we were better in possession and had more of the ball but the chances were fairly even. We were a little disappointed in the dressing room only to be taking a point down the road with us but it'll hopefully prove to be a very important one come the end of the season.

As for our league position, three points clear with two games to play. Am I allowed to say that it's just about squeaky bum time?

We were warned by our manager Harry Cairney and assistant Andy Aitken not to take anything as given before the match.

Unfortunately, when you look at our performance on the day, it may have seemed as if we thought we were already over the finish line.

We made a late fight of it with a couple of goals in the last half hour and might even have sneaked something but that would have been daylight robbery and very unfair on Berwick.

They were better than us for an hour and by the time we had made our changes it was game over.

It almost always happens that teams with such a lead take their foot off the gas and personally I would put the late flourish down to that more than anything else.

Annan manager Harry Cairney will be hoping his players stay focused as they aim for a play-off place to reach the Second Division. Photo: SNS

We now have two huge games coming up against Stranraer and Arbroath before travelling to East Stirlingshire on the last day of the league season.

The performance needs to improve without doubt and possibly our approach to the game as well.

I've mentioned recently that our training sessions have been a lot more relaxed and lighter and I noticed that there was a fair bit of hilarity going on during the warm-up against Berwick.

At the time, it was great fun and I was fully involved in the banter that was flying around. When things go wrong, as they did at the weekend, you analyse things a bit more and perhaps we did take our eye off the ball slightly.

I'm very confident that won't happen again and everyone will be fully focused and up for the challenge that lies ahead; that starts at Stair Park on Saturday.

A few of the boys had a run-out in the reserve game at Queen's Park on Monday night and the rest of them trained in Glasgow. Unfortunately I wasn't in attendance as I was in Edinburgh at the beginning of the week to see Beady Eye.

I don't normally miss training and I was disappointed at this one because I would have played in the game. I told the manager as soon as I knew there was a game and he seemed fine with it but I suppose we'll see for real on Saturday when he names his squad!

I've recently been talking to people at the club about doing my coaching badges - Alan Irving in particular. In fact, it was him who brought it up. Out of the blue he came out and asked me if I had been thinking about it.

Now, initially I wasn't sure if this was a genuine conversation or if he was laying the foundations for the manager telling me my services were no longer required at the end of the season.

Alan is a very genuine man, however, so I knew it was the former and it's something I'm now very interested in.

I get very frustrated seeing young kids being coached and I feel there is far too much emphasis on winning at such a young age.

I think it also helps if you have played the game at a decent enough level and can actually show the kids how to perform the basic skills of the game and progress them from there.

Some of you may disagree entirely with me, of course; you might not think I can even do the basic skills myself!

It was a pretty even game with not too many chances.

But as biased as we all are when it comes to our own team, we felt we possibly just shaded things.

There was one moment of real controversy when everyone in the ground thought that Ian Harty had put us in front midway through the first half - everyone except the linesman that is.

Jardine is hoping to avoid a play-off date with David Irons's Stenhousemuir

It was a long punt (no change there I hear some of you say) from our goalkeeper that was headed on into the path of Harty by an Albion Rovers defender.

Harty did what he does best and slipped the ball underneath the onrushing goalkeeper and in to the net. One-nil Annan - or so we thought.

To be fair to the linesman he did have his flag up as soon as the goal was scored but the referee looked over and appeared to signal that he had got it wrong and the goal would stand.

The linesman persuaded the referee to go over to him and managed to change his mind and the goal wasn't given.

Understandably our players felt hard done by and were pretty furious, but it was made worse as the officials seemed to change their story as to why the goal wasn't given.

Now, although I never heard it first-hand I trust my team mates and we came away feeling very frustrated.

The point gained would normally have been welcomed as Albion is always a difficult place to go, as Arbroath found out only a week previously.

But their win at Clyde on Saturday meant that realistically the title might now be a bridge too far for us.

They won again on Wednesday night and that victory puts them in the very healthy position seven points clear with only four games to play.

They still have to come down to our place, but on top of defeating them in that game we're hoping for a five-point swing in the other three games.

Our job now, starting at home to Berwick this weekend, is simply to make sure we finish in one of the three play-off positions. It's a simple as that.

We're six points clear of fifth-placed Queen's Park and we want a play-off spot confirmed as quickly as we can before we think about finishing in a specific position.

Finishing second or third means that we would play a team from our own division in the play-off semi-final, whereas fourth would see us come up against a team from the division above.

As things stand that's looking like it's going to be Stenhousemuir and would see us face our old manager, Davie Irons.

My former team-mate Lewis Sloan is also there now, so it would make for an interesting tie should it happen.

It's all 'ifs' and 'buts' just now and, as I say, confirming just one of those play-off spots is what it's all about first and foremost.

Things are winding down now in terms of our training with guys picking up knocks, so the players need to protect themselves for what lies ahead.

We've had nights off here and there but the sessions in general are fairly light.

It's been a frustrating time for me as I've not featured in the last two matches and I hope I'm going to have a part to play in these last few games.

I played 14 on the bounce including the five matches we won in-a-row, but I dropped out in the next match when we lost at home to Clyde.

That's left me personally very disappointed but it's all about the team doing well and as long as we're successful I'll be happy.

Ok, I missed out the wee bit that Arbroath do have a game in hand, but I also missed out that they still have to come down to our place in the second last game of the season.

It's great to still be involved in things at this late stage in the season and hopefully we can stay in the title race until Arbroath come to visit.

That has the potential to be some day at Galabank.

We've got some huge games to play before then, starting with Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill on Saturday.

It's always a difficult match against Rovers and they will be confident going in to this one after their fantastic 3-0 victory against Arbroath last weekend.

With six wins in seven our confidence isn't too bad either, so it's set up nicely.

We're undefeated against them so far this season and we will be delighted if that remains the same come 5pm on Saturday.

The boys kept themselves in this position on Saturday after reversing the result of our defeat to Clyde the previous midweek.

There wasn't much in the game and we managed to win it with a solitary strike from Ian Harty.

It wasn't pretty at times but we make no apologies for that. If it continues like that in the remainder of the games and we end up successful then so be it.

It's all about results from here on in and it doesn't really matter how we get them.

We continue to get stick for the way we play (unfairly so in my opinion) and another five games of the same isn't going to make any difference to us.

I have to say though, the Clyde fans have given us a giggle over the last two matches.

They were giving Mark Docherty (Sparky) a bit of stick for his, shall we say, high-pitched tones when shouting for the ball.

He's a bit of a squealer is Sparky, but it went unnoticed by the players until the Bully Wee's visit last Tuesday.

They left it until a particular shout to Sean O'Connor in the second half and after that they never let up with loud shrieks of "Sean, Sean" every time he was on the ball.

It's probably one of those situations when you had to be there to appreciate how funny it was.

To put it into perspective, we were losing the match 2-0 at the time with only minutes to go and even our manager was in stitches!

I'm going to finish this week by asking you to give me your thoughts on the extra officials in European games.

I know I'm drifting away from Third Division topics, but it's becoming frustrating watching them do absolutely nothing.

I never saw any of the Champions League matches this week but I got in from work on Wednesday night to see a snippet of the Chelsea v Manchester United highlights.

This has nothing to do with the result affecting me in any way but, I'm sure like most people, I couldn't believe the decision not to award Chelsea a penalty in the incident between Evra and Ramires.

It was bad enough that the referee didn't give it but, when you see it from behind the play, you can see the official on the bye-line looking straight at the incident with no other player even close to obstructing his view.

So, what exactly is the purpose of the extra officials?

I get the impression that they are told not to get involved in decisions unless the match referee asks for help in their earpiece.

I may have missed it but I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of clarity as to their actual responsibilities during a match, because, to me, that guy from last night got an all expenses paid trip to a Champions League Quarter-Final.

We can comfort ourselves slightly with the thought that it has not affected our play-off position too much and, besides, five wins in six games isn't at all bad.

We were disappointed to lose and there's no doubt that it was a blow in terms of actually winning the title, but our ambition was always the play-offs and we remain in an excellent position to achieve that.

Galabank will host Clyde for the second time in five days on Saturday. Photo: SNS

It has been an incredible run of wins we've just had and we hope to get back to that by reversing things when we face Clyde again at home this weekend.

I'm not sure there could be a better game for us to be playing in although I'm sure Clyde are possibly thinking along the same lines.

The reason I say this is because the defeat is obviously fresh in the memory and is what we used as our main motivation when we beat Queen's Park at Hampden last weekend.

We had been up there only a couple of weeks before and let ourselves down and were keen to make amends.

We managed to do that on Saturday past with a decent team performance in terms of hard work and solid defending and we came away with our very first win at the national stadium.

The "re-match" against Clyde this weekend will be slightly different in that I don't think we let ourselves down in terms of our performance.

We couldn't believe we were a goal down at half-time and even after the break missed two great chances from free headers before Clyde scored their second goal.

We were guilty of missed chances and poor defending, certainly for the second goal. Some might say, and have already said, that the first goal was also a mistake but I'm going to let big Craig Sommersgill decide for himself on that one.

He will know better than anyone else in the Annan dressing room whether his wall was lined up correctly and I'm not going to tell him any different as I'm no goalkeeping coach.

Craig has been excellent for us recently and will continue to be so for the remainder of the season.

It's incredible to think that I've only a few weeks left remaining on my contract at the club and that I could have just six or so games left to play.

It is something that I have been aware of probably since the turn of the year but it hasn't been playing on my mind. It's not something I'm particularly worried about and I'm fairly relaxed about things.

I didn't know the manager wanted me to stay until after we had just finished the second last game of last season so I suppose it's too early for me to be expecting anything!

I'm sure it's a sign of how things have been going recently as there hasn't been too much talk between the players about next season.

We can't think too far ahead as we're concentrating on what's happening now and making sure we finish the season being successful.

There are a lot of other players in the same situation as myself at the club but that's the situation most players find themselves in all over the country at the minute.

Clubs are not handing out contracts much longer than 12 months...if you're lucky.

It's common now for players to sign deals that kick in from the first game of the season and continue only until the last, meaning that there is no income during the close season and pre-season training and matches.

That's something that I've been used to since I joined Annan all those years ago so it's nothing new.

Time will tell if I've got another 12 months of the same to look forward to.

Our 2-1 home victory over Montrose at the weekend meant that for the first time since joining the Scottish Football League in 2008 we have won four league games on the bounce.

More importantly, it saw us close the gap on second placed Albion Rovers - who we can now leapfrog should we win our game in hand.

The players are obviously delighted with the way things are going just now but I'm not sure the same can be said about our club secretary, Alan Irving.

The boys are all pretty sure he's devastated to be paying out all these win bonuses.

Although nothing like the one we find ourselves in now, we have been in decent positions before and let things slip away, so absolutely no-one at the club is getting carried away.

We're happy right now and it goes without saying that confidence is high but we know that you can quickly be brought back down to earth in this league.

At this stage of the season a couple of results either way can have a huge impact on your season.

The other results in the division went our way at the weekend to further strengthen our position in the play-off places and it's incredible how much we've all began to keep an eye on things at the top.

I've always been one for looking at what our rivals are doing but it's now the first thing you ask after your own game has finished.

It was the same after training on Tuesday night.

There were eight of us from Saturday who did just a light session and straight away we were on the mobiles looking for the latest from Elgin against Berwick.

Berwick managed to sneak a late win, by all accounts, and that shortened the gap between us, but hopefully we can at least maintain the gap before we play them at Galabank in a few weeks.

Obviously Arbroath were in action too but I think they will go on and win the title, so I have taken them out of the equation at this stage.

We travel to Hampden this weekend hoping to improve on our last visit in February.

We don't have the best of records at the national stadium and the 3-0 reverse a few weeks ago was one of the lowest points of our season so far.

Obviously the team is more important, but on a personal level I'll be hoping things go a little better for me this time.

I suffered a head knock very early in the last game up there and had to come off shortly afterwards so I'll be at least hoping to stay conscious for more than 10 minutes on Saturday.

It could turn out to be a bit of a different match to what we usually face when playing Queens Park.

Regardless of whether you're home or away they always try to play football.

After seeing the state of Hampden during the League Cup Final at the weekend, we could both be struggling a bit with the playing surface; I don't think I've ever seen it looking so bad.

Let's just hope it suits us a little better and we can adapt to the conditions better than our opponents.

Two hard fought single-goal victories against Stranraer and Elgin were followed by our biggest win of the season when we defeated East Stirlingshire 5-1 at their own place.

It's put us in a great position as we approach the business end of the season and with three of our next four games at home we have an excellent opportunity to strengthen our position even further.

The bus was due to leave Galabank at 0645 GMT which meant me and Jack Steele had to be at Moffat for 0715 GMT.

I struggle to jump straight out of bed when my alarm goes off so it was set for 0530 GMT to allow me an extra half an hour with the snooze button.

My bag was packed the night before so all I needed to do was get a quick shower and get the club tracksuit on, while my breakfast would be consumed on the bus.

The bus is normally buzzing by the time it reaches us; the music is on and the players are fighting for a seat at the only two tables before the card school begins.

As it pulled up all we could see were pillows against the windows with the players spread about so they could have two seats to themselves.

I think the only player that spoke was Andy Aitken.

I never really sleep when I'm travelling anywhere so it was a read of the papers for me with the headphones on listening to music.

By the time we picked the rest of the boys up at Strathclyde the snow had already started.

The weather wasn't looking too clever so we started a sweep to see how far we would get before we found that the game was off and we had to turn back.

Every time Alan Irving's (the club secretary) phone went off we would all look up to see if we were in the money.

The snow never really let up as we travelled further north, but it got worse from Perth to Inverness and we really began to worry that our journey could be wasted.

As it turned out Elgin must have been the only place in Scotland not to have been hit by the snow.

Before we reached Elgin we stopped at a hotel in Inverness for some lunch where the boys filled themselves up with chicken and pasta.

On arriving at the ground we found the pitch to be quite firm as it had been cold the night before but sleet was also beginning to fall.

We concentrated the team talk on making sure we made a good start to the game.

The last time we had been there we lost two early goals and never recovered and we wanted to make sure this didn't happen again.

It seemed to work and we were by far the better team in the first half and went in to the break 2-0 in front.

We were comfortable, and I never saw any other result than an Annan win; although I thought it would have been more comfortable than it was to turn out.

The game changed completely when we lost Andy Aitken to a straight red card minutes in to the second half.

From there on in it was backs to the wall as Elgin came at us and quickly got back on level terms.

Craig Sommersgill made a great save to keep us in it before we were very fortunate to get the win with a late own goal.

I think we deserved the win due to our first half performance when we should probably have been more than two goals up.

Being down to ten men changed the game and I'd like to think Elgin wouldn't have caused us as many problems if we had continued on a level playing field.

It was a very loud and happy changing room and I make no apologies for that.

Victories away at Elgin always seem that little bit sweeter and it's purely because of the journey and nothing to do with having a dislike for Elgin or their players.

Nobody looks forward to the journey but when you achieve the three points it certainly makes the return that little bit more pleasant.

We were quickly on to the bus and headed straight to Tesco to stock up on some refreshments for the way home.

You know you've had a good day when the chairman pulls you to the side to tell you not to buy any beer because he is sorting the boys out.

A few of us enjoyed one or two beers on the way home but we were sensible because we knew we had another game on Tuesday night.

The snow had started during the game and continued down the road until we reached Perth.

There were worrying moments again as the snow got pretty bad in places but the two drivers did us proud and got us through, albeit at a very slow speed.

It took us so long to get back that we finished watching two movies before we even reached Glasgow; one of them was 'Gladiator' - and that's about three hours long.

I eventually got back through my front door just short of midnight - so I had been on the go for 18 hours.

As I said before, it's a journey no-one really looks forward to and I'm glad we don't have to face it again this season.

Fingers crossed we won't be making it next season either.

It's been far too long in coming and the only way I can really describe it is as sheer relief.

That was the emotion I had when I finally heard the referee blow his whistle, after what felt like the longest second half in history.

Although I didn't feel it too much during the match, I felt completely exhausted as soon as it was over.

Ian Harty, seen here in his Stirling Albion days, scored Annan's second against Stranraer. Photo: SNS.

It was a wee while before I began to think what a massive three points it was for us on Tuesday night.

The victory proved to be even more important when we saw the results of the other games and in particular the wins for both Queen's Park and Berwick Rangers.

It keeps things nice and tight between the chasing pack, with Arbroath beginning to stretch away from the rest of us a little bit.

I don't think there's much doubt they have the strongest squad in the division and, even though they had a tricky start to the season, I always felt they would be the one's we all had to stop.

I'm sure there wouldn't be too many of the players down at Annan who would argue that this "midweek hoodoo" had become a bit of a mental problem with us.

It certainly plays on your mind when you're out there on the pitch.

Personally, after the Berwick Rangers game last week, I was worried it wasn't going to happen this season at all.

I felt good about the team in the build-up and felt comfortable being one goal in front. I know I've said a lot recently about missed chances coming back at you but during that game I honestly never thought we would lose a goal.

We all know that Berwick equalised, and I certainly thought to myself "not again".

The heads went down, the fans got frustrated and another one was gone without that win.

You can't get away from people reminding you either. I'd have my mates emailing me on the day of a game telling me they'd backed our opponents or put us down for a draw but never a win.

I spoke to my uncle after the Arbroath game on Saturday and he told me that it would be two defeats on the bounce because we never win midweek and Stranraer would beat us.

Obviously they're having a joke at our expense but that's the situation we found ourselves in.

That one has gone now, though, but I'm sure we'll read about us winning only one midweek game in the SFL in the lead up to next week's game at East Stirlingshire!

The game itself on Tuesday night wasn't pretty at times but I would say that we created the better chances and limited Stranraer to very little.

The conditions were poor with a strong wind making it difficult for both teams. We responded magnificently from going a goal down with Sean O'Connor equalising immediately and Ian Harty scoring the winner after a really good move.

The two goals we scored were really pleasing, particularly the second when there must have been five or six players involved in the build-up.

The manager made a couple of changes to the side from Arbroath and it worked a treat with Harty scoring and Aaron Muirhead having his best game for weeks.

It was a change in position for Aero but he was a constant threat down the right hand side and that was shown with his assists for both goals.

I know he was surprised to be in the team after his suspension, particularly as we knew he would be out again for Saturday's trip to Elgin.

As I say, it worked out perfectly and the manager was shown to be correct in his decision. All it means is there will be changes again this weekend.

The manager has gone soft on us this week by giving the boys Thursday night off from training.

I'm not sure if it's a reward for Tuesday's win or because he's got another parents' evening at his school!

Whatever it was, there was no-one complaining. I for one will certainly be taking it easy trying to get these old legs back to normal for our long journey at the weekend.

See you next week.

We were down to 10 men shortly after losing a goal, when Aaron Muirhead received his second red card of the season. The boys managed to turn things around and, although it wasn't our best performance, we were a delighted bunch in the changing-room once the game was over and the three points were in the bag.

We hoped that victory on Saturday would prove the catalyst for us to go on a decent run and improve on our consistency, starting with Berwick Rangers on Tuesday past. Our performance was good for an hour, but from all the chances created, we only had Kevin Neilson's header to show for it.

Once again, we missed some very good opportunities and it came back to bite us again when Berwick scored an equaliser in the latter stages of the game.

We're not doing that right now and it's a bit of a concern, although at least we're still creating chances; when that stops you have a real worry on your hands. Neil MacFarlane says he has never known a team to miss as many good chances as us and I think he's played for about a thousand different clubs!

We're just about to hit a very important week at the club and it's one that could potentially make or break our season. After Saturday's trip to Arbroath, we face Stranraer at Galabank on Tuesday night followed by another away day at Elgin.

It's a hectic fixture schedule we're facing just now, with regular midweek games meaning there's not too much going on in terms of training. The boys are only in on a Thursday night and, for the past five or six weeks, they have just been light sessions.

The good thing about that is it's more relaxed and we can have a bit of a carry on and the head tennis is back involved as part of our warm-up. Now, without blowing my own trumpet, I had remained unbeaten until last week. I lay the blame firmly on the shoulders of Aaron Muirhead (pictured), who let the team down with some awful touches.

I was having a chat with the manager when the teams were being sorted this week, so when I joined the game, I was able to pick which side I'd be starring for. As I was keen to return to winning ways, I looked for Aero and without thinking ran to the opposite side of the net.

I realised fairly quickly that it was going to be my second defeat in as many weeks and there was only one reason for it; Graeme Bell. He was terrible, worse than Aero and worse than Pietro Baldotto and he's got a plastic hip!

It got to the stage where even Belly was shouting, "aw naw", as the ball came in his direction. To make matters worse, he had the cheek to put me up for biscuits as the worst performer at training. What a disaster of a night!

After working so hard to get ourselves back into a play-off position we then surrendered it with a whimper in our worst performance of the season at Hampden on Tuesday. The only way to look on the 3-0 defeat positively is to say that surely that is as bad as it can get.

We have crept back in to our old habit of giving very sloppy goals away and we gifted Queen's Park three goals.

Please don't think that I'm taking anything away from Queen's Park and their performance as I think I've made my feelings known about them as a footballing side over the last couple of years. However, the bottom line is that they didn't score a goal from anything they created on their own.

We had kept three clean sheets in four games before we travelled to Berwick on 12 February. Although we won that match we've conceded eight goals in the three matches, including that one.

When you look back at those goals, I would say at least five were complete gifts and the other three were certainly avoidable.

I suppose if you analyse everything then there is always a mistake somewhere along the line. But the goals we give away are different and they are goals that we never seem to get from other teams in the league.

Queen's Park took full advantage of some sloppy Annan defending on Tuesday

The games continue to come thick and fast so we've no time to dwell on things too much before we face East Stirlingshire on Saturday followed by Berwick Rangers midweek.

Shire had a bad result on Wednesday so both teams will be hurting after heavy defeats and it could make for an interesting game. We really need to take maximum points from these fixtures before travelling to Arbroath next weekend.

After speaking to a couple of my team-mates recently it really is amazing how a late goal can completely change your feelings and the way you look at a performance.

The recent games against Berwick Rangers and Albion Rovers spring to mind and show you the positive and negative aspects, depending on which way things fall.

Take the Albion game when, looking back it was a good point gained considering they could have been out of sight by half time. As it turned out we found ourselves 2-1 up in injury-time only to lose a last minute goal, dropping two points in the process.

Following that game the heads were down and there were an awful lot of negatives about how we couldn't clear our lines, substitutions, a red card for Andy Aitken and obviously losing the last-gasp goal.

In contrast, we scored our winner in the latter stages of our victory at Berwick with an Ian Harty penalty. We lost two really poor goals going behind twice and generally struggled during certain periods of the game.

Had the game finished in a draw I've no doubt that we would have gladly taken the point but the poor goals would have been the main focal point in the dressing room.

But the late goal meant handshakes and high fives all round and what a fantastic win it was after coming from behind not once but twice in the game.

Jimmy Greaves got it absolutely spot on!

I'll finish with a couple of apologies this week and first of all to two of my mates, Gaz and Moff. They both travelled across Glasgow to watch me on Tuesday night and not only did I mix their tickets up so they had to pay to get in but I also managed to get myself knocked out after five minutes of the game meaning I had to come off.

The second apology is for the supporters who travelled to the game.

I could be wrong but I don't think there was any acknowledgement from the players thanking you for being there in midweek. Obviously, it wasn't great for anyone to watch and you might already have left but you should always be applauded for coming to support the team.

Make no mistake it is appreciated and we'll hopefully be able to make it up to you at Galabank on Saturday.

Yes, our bad results in midweek fixtures continue but there was certainly a lot more to be upbeat about than there was from our last defeat under the home floodlights to Queen's Park.

After the match a lot was made about our sluggish start to the second half, and rightly so because it wasn't good enough. We seem to have a problem going up the slope if we're not already in front; answers on a postcard please because I'm at a loss to explain it.

It goes without saying that we need to sort that out, but had we taken our chances (and there were two or three very good ones in that first half) that wouldn't have been too much of a worry in my opinion.

Chances don't come any better than the ones we had on Tuesday and in my opinion we are much better when we are defending a half-time lead as opposed to coming out and opening up; particularly when we're going up the slope.

This is obviously a part of our game we have to work on and I'm sure we'll talk about it at training on Thursday night. However, I can't help but think back to the missed chances and if they are taken this is an entirely different column this week. But that's football I suppose and the fine line between winning and not.

Chris is looking forward to locking horns with new Clyde signing Charlie Miller

Just as we did after the Queen's Park defeat we move on. Hopefully, we can do that with the good results against Clyde and Berwick Rangers, as well as the first half from Tuesday, in the back of our minds.

The manager will definitely freshen things up. He has to with John MacBeth suspended. We will have Bryan Gilfillan back from a ban and possibly Neil MacFarlane fit again.

We're going to need everyone back fit and available as we're facing a tough schedule with midweek fixtures in five of the next six weeks.

It's been all change for Clyde since our 2-0 victory recently with a new management team in place, along with several new faces in their squad.

It's great for Clyde but also fantastic for the Third Division that they have managed to attract people like Jim Duffy, Chic Charnley and Charlie Miller to the club.

You can't get enough of characters like those three and it's a real coup for them, especially signing a player of the quality of Charlie.

I've been looking at our fixtures to see when we're next up against Clyde and although it's six weeks away we do face each other twice in the space of four days.

The boys have been giving me a bit of stick because I've been going on about what a great signing it is for Clyde. Charlie was in the first team when I was a boy at Rangers and he looked after me pretty well when I was there so I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

He had been training with Queen of the South recently, along with Bob Malcolm, and I was hoping the former Ibrox pair would be signing. Although it didn't happen I'm delighted he is back in the game and I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to the 29 March and seeing him at Galabank.

It's not every week you open the Sunday papers and see Junior football making headlines outside the sports pages.

That's exactly what happened after trouble flared at the Cumnock versus Auchinleck Talbot match from the weekend. My mate, Gary McMenamin, is Cumnock's best player (his words) so I was aware of the trouble when I spoke to him after the game.

He said he couldn't believe what he was seeing and it's understandable when you view some of the pictures.

Gary has been at me before about trying the Juniors when I finish at Annan but in all honesty he wasn't really selling it to me at the weekend!