Pollok 4-3 Annan Athletic

Pollok 4-3 Annan Athletic

Scottish Cup Second Round

Monday 24th October 2022

This was an absolutely belting cup tie on a night which Pollok fans will remember for years to come as they dumped Annan Athletic out of the Scottish Cup under the floodlights at Newlandsfield Park.

It was always going to be a massive occasion for The Lok for a multitude of reasons - none more so than the fact this was their first competitive fixture against SPFL opponents in 15 years!

And with the game being shown live on BBC Scotland and infront of a sell-out crowd (by SPFL standards anyway), what a performance the team in black and white stripes produced to see off their League Two counterparts and set up a Third Round trip to Ayr United. 

It wasn’t always pretty; it was gritty, tense and nail-biting at times - particularly when Annan were piling on the pressure in the dying stages and trying to force extra-time, but the sheer determination, endeavour and spirit shown by Pollok’s players to give everything and get the job done was superb. 

The scenes at full-time, when that collective effort to achieve victory was rewarded with the sweet sound of the final whistle, are what makes football so special - even at this level when everyone will be back doing the day job as they read this but no doubt talking about this great game!

The celebrations, the hunger, the intensity, the raw emotion and the juggernaut of jangling nerves; what a night - and what an advert for the West Of Scotland League which Pollok play in!

The Lok are renowned in Scottish Football circles for being one of the most well-known former junior (non-league) clubs and their Newlandsfield Park home is an absolute classic with more character to it than about a dozen venues (if not more) in the SPFL.

Located just a stones-throw from Pollokshaws East Station (only four stops from Glasgow Central), there’s no seats to be found anywhere in the ground but the large covered terrace is a throwback to a bygone era - oozing charm, elegance and character. Coupled with old-fashioned 1970s style goalposts on a tight and sloping pitch, plus flats and tenements overlooking the place, it possesses a really special feel about it. The recently-installed floodlights (not even constructed this time last year) only serve to illuminate its beauty even more for big occasions such as this one.

Having walloped Highland League also-rans Huntly in Round One in a game which was meant to be shown on TV, only for it to be pulled at the eleventh hour, it wasn’t a huge shock to see the BBC Scotland cameras actually in town this time around in the hope of witnessing a giant-killing act. On the downside, capacity was capped at just 900 (that being the figure on the safety certificate) because, in truth, Pollok could have sold that figure three or even four times over!

Annan haven’t exactly pulled up any trees in League Two this term and, finding themselves just a place and a point above that dodgy potential relegation trapdoor position right now, there were many aspects within a shambolic defensive showing which suggest they might be having more than a few jitters about potentially ending up in the Lowland League at some point in the not too distant future.

On a pitch saturated by the heavy rain which most of Scotland has seen over the past few days, and with Pollok’s fans packed onto the terraces right next to the pitch and baying for an upset, the ingredients were always there for a surprise. Every time a ball went into the box Annan’s defence looked vulnerable and the first sign that ‘David’ might just be about to topple ‘Golliath’ occurred in the fifth minute as Shaun Fraser got on the end of a long cross and planted a looping header over a flat-footed Annan ‘keeper to send Newlandsfield Park into raptures and put Pollok in a 1-0 lead.

The visitors eventually got themselves back on level terms thanks to Rob McCartney who side-footed the ball home from close-range on 35 minutes but, with the home fans perhaps a little bit deflated by that equaliser, there was to be a sweet twist deep into a solitary minute of first half injury-time. 

Darren Christie got the ball about 30 yards and with some urging for him to ‘have a pop’ (more in hope rather than expectation), he took a touch to bring the ball under control, drove forward a few yards, and duly let fly with a rip-roaring 30-yard thunderbolt which flew straight into the net and restore Pollok’s advantage. Joyous scenes followed - a collective ‘YESSSSSSSSS’ being screamed in utter delight under the packed covered terrace. Noise, emotion and pure passion reverberated from one person to the next; this goal meant so much to those craving a Pollok win and it completely changed the two half-time team talks.

Christie might never score a better goal in his career either - and what a time and place to do it infront of the TV cameras. Take a f**king bow son!

The goal visibly helped to re-ignite Pollok’s self-belief that this would be their night and inspired by Bon Jovi’s ‘Living On A Prayer’ song which blasted out as the teams re-emerged for the second half, the home crowd were soon erupting in delight once again after Fraser Mullen fired a free-kick almost straight through a terribly-organised defensive wall to make it 3-1.

Annan’s players looked rudderless, hapless and glum at this point and Pollok’s night got even better before the hour mark as Stuart McCann capitalised on more slack defending by emphatically firing home on the half-turn after he picked up a loose ball inside the box.

At 4-1 down - and being humiliated at this point, Annan might have caved in altogether and gone on to endure a walloping similar to the one which Huntly got in Round One, but aided by the introduction of Aidan Smith, they pulled a goal back when the man with the mullet flicked the ball on for McCartney to finish at the back-post and grab his second of the night.

Cammy Williamson (one of Annan’s better players) then curled a powerful left-foot attempt into the top corner to make it 4-3 with just over 10 minutes or so remaining. Game On!

The latter stages were then as tense, nerve-wracking and exciting as one might expect as Annan pressed forward, whilst Pollok (instead of seeking to run the ball into the corners and waste a few seconds), tried their best to get another goal which would make it ‘Goodnight Vienna’ for the visitors once and for all.

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours for Pollok’s fans as time slowly ebbed away. A bit of sloppiness in possession owing to some tired legs was evident but the grit, hunger and desire was paramount and on show in abundance as the heroes in black and white ‘dug in’ and saw off two minutes of stoppage-time to produce one of the most remarkable results in the club’s recent history.

The razzmatazz of having the cameras in town and the scenes at full-time will stay with everyone for a long time, and good luck now to Pollok’s Army when they head to Somerset Park hoping to pull off an even greater result in Round Three!