Today I'm going back 4 years to 22nd July 2017 and another early season Scottish League Cup Group Stage game. This time it's Annan Athletic v Kilmarnock at Galabank, Annan.
I feared that this game was going to be a last minute call off due to the biblical rain which was falling outside as I stared glumly out of the clubhouse window. I had driven up from England that morning and, as I approached the border, the skies had darkened to the colour of gunmetal grey and the rain had started to fall. Annan isn't too far the other side of the border and, within an hour, the roads had started to flood. You can imagine my relief therefore to discover that Galabank has a synthetic surface and the puddles seemed to disappear as quickly as they formed. I had a game.
I was amused by Annan's club mascot. I had to think about it for a bit before I got the joke. It was a panda you see? I didn't get it either at first but you may just about recall that one of the panda's brought over to a British zoo from China was called Ann Ann. Brilliant eh?
The game finished Annan 0 Kilmarnock 2 before a crowd of just 743 with both Killie goals coming from Kris Boyd. Boyd was the big name player in the Kilmarnock side on account of his previous appearances for Rangers and Scotland and the fact that he is still the top scorer in the history of the Scottish Premiership with 167 goals.
After the match I had decided to stay over in Annan in readiness for another match in Scotland the next day. I walked up and down the High Street that evening and I felt that the town was pretty without being particularly remarkable. What was remarkable was the number of police cars and ambulances that I saw that night which seemed to be moving from one drinking establishment to another, dealing with people who were clearly worse for wear. I'm not saying that you wouldn't see the same kind of thing on most Saturday nights in towns up and down England but I was appalled at the sheer number of issues that were seemingly being caused by alcohol. It's little wonder that the demon drink receives lots of control and attention because too many people clearly cannot control themselves and need a little help. I went back to my hotel, had a quiet pint and felt sad that so few seem to be able to do the same.
CRB Match No. 2160
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