Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Roversboss ruesluckand penaltymiss
ALBION ROVERS ................................... 0 ANNAN ATHLETIC ................................ 1
Brian Reid admits his Albion Rovers side could have played all day and not scored against Annan, as they were left to rue a series of missed chances.
The Cliftonhill gaffer watched his side fall to back-to-back defeats in League Two with an Iain Anderson strike on the stroke of half-time settling the contest.
But Declan Byrne missed a second half penalty and Rovers were twice denied by the woodwork on another frustrating day at the office, following last week’s 3-0 defeat at Elgin.
And Reid said:“i would have been disappointed at half-time if it was 0-0 as well because I felt we had dominated the game, our goalkeeper hadn’t had a save to make, Annan never had a corner.
“We should have been at least a goal or two ahead at half-time, so to lose a goal right on the stroke of half-time with that sucker punch was a real sore one to take.
“It was just totally against the run of play and it was a smash and grab from Annan. We were poor in terms of finishing and if you don’t score goals, you don’t win games.
“I was pleased from the point of view we played well, we were on the front foot and dominated most of the game.
“But it was one of those days. It was a day where we missed chances, missed a penalty, nothing really broke for us in front of goal.
“We hit the post twice before the penalty and one of them was in the six yard box.
“One of them has got to go in, surely? But it was one of those games where you hit the post, the ball hits the back of heads, it hits somebody lying on the ground.
“I think we could have played all day and still not scored.”
Byrne blazed his effort over the bar and Reid added:“he’s scored penalties before and he’ll score them again. He’ll just need to pick himself up and keep believing in himself.
“Everyone can miss penalties, it’s just unfortunate for us it was an important one. There’s no point dwelling on it. We need to look forward and try and get a positive result on Saturday.”
A trip to Stirling Albion now awaits and Reid is looking forward to having a full squad to choose from after key men Max Wright and Charlie Reilly both returned to the squad from injury at the weekend.
”It was the first time we had a full bench,”said Reid.“we had Max Wright back and Charlie Reilly in, while Jamie Mckernon was on the bench but he just wasn’t 100 per cent ready.
“He’d been out isolating for two weeks and hopefully with a good weeks’training we should be at full complement for the first time this season on Saturday.”