Stenhousemuir: Point could be important for us, says boss

Warriors captain Sean Crighton was the unlikely hero, scoring twice in the final ten minutes of play to put Stephen Swift’s side ahead after trailing to a Tommy Goss first-half strike – however Goss struck again with moments left to seal a point for Annan, who had Tommy Muir sent off on 32 minutes for serious foul play.

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald, boss Swift said he was happy enough with a point despite losing a late goal.

“We didn’t start the game well at all and to be honest we deservedly went a goal down,” he explained. “The sending off for them changed the complexion of the match and it put the ball in our court. Annan dropped much deeper and the impetus was really put on to us to go and get at them.

“It was wave after wave of attack and we had 25-30 shots on goal which is pleasing but we weren’t ruthless enough and that can always come back to haunt you. We had to rely on Sean Crighton to grab the goals for us which isn’t what you want when you consider he is our centre-back.

“Once we got into that winning position, after working so hard to get there – you are just thinking to yourself let’s just settle down and see the game out with a couple of minutes to go.

“However, they managed to go up the pitch and score right after we went ahead which was really frustrating. What I would say is that it doesn’t feel like earlier in the season when we played poorly and I had a go at the players.

“They gave everything and sometimes luck doesn’t go your way. The ball fell perfectly for their striker on the edge of the box after a tackle and it was a great finish. Sometimes you don’t get the rub of the green and a point could be important for us.”

On captain Crighton’s double, he paid tribute to the former Airdrie man for his presence at both ends of the pitch.

“He is always a threat when he goes up into the opposition box,” Swift said. “We felt that because they were so deep defending their box that Sean would be a good option for us up there.

“We didn’t really have that type of player in attack at that moment that would win those crosses into the box and luckily it worked out exactly as we had planned it too. It wasn’t a day that we had our shooting boots across the team on but Sean certainly did.

“I was just glad to get something from the match because they were defending so well as Annan do and it didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere even with the man advantage.”

Stenhousemuir now face second-placed Stirling Albion on Saturday at Ochilview.

Looking ahead to that match, Swift said: “The last match against them was a poor day for us and a tough one because we had a player sent off after three minutes.

"It was backs against the wall so this time around we need to make sure we don’t do anything silly early on. If we play to our best we can easily win the match but we need to turn up as they have scored a lot of goals this season.”