Annan tonight

I'm afraid that it is a given, that the latest boardroom implosion and alleged difficult financial position, are going to be an enduringly unpleasant flavour in discussions surrounding the club in weeks to come, rather like a batch of green chilli seeds introduced, unsolicited, into an otherwise very mild korma. So, I thought I'd take the radical step of concentrating on tonight's football match in this entry.

There's no doubting that the lads travel down the M74 in a glum frame of mind. Saturday's performance barely troubled the pisspoor draft mark on the hull of this season, and the players looked listless, shattered, and out of sorts. We couldn't string two passes together, the lads ran about as though they had bags of concrete strapped to the back of their calves, and we struggled badly in midfield, as it was swamped by Annan's cloggers. In today's Courier, player-manager Tweed almost sounds as though he'd undergo root canal surgery without anaesthetic than take on tonight's opponents.

Tweed seemed to have made a bold attacking substitution at half time, on Saturday, with the introduction of Gemmill for Campbell, but it transpired after the match that this was an enforced change due to injury. A stray David Cox elbow accidentally shattered Campbell's cheekbone, and I'll be surprised if we see the craggy left back again this season. Campbell joins Crighton on the injured list, as Crighton's knee gave up on him against the Franchise last Tuesday. So, having just welcomed back four players from suspension, we now have to do without two of the mainstays of our defence. The folly of having a very thin roster of senior pros to be augmented by kids is laid bare, yet again.

Presumably that means Sinclair will drop to left back tonight. The emergence of Sinclair as a first team regular, has been one of the very few bright notes in an otherwise awful season, and I actually think he does well in the left back position. It's time for Sean Fleming to take up the more advanced attacking role on the left, where I feel he is far more effective than as a defender. I assume Hegarty will drop back to centre half alongside an exhausted Tweed, with the hole in the middle of the park plugged by Maitland. Up front, Gemmill and Tosh will surely lead the attack. I like Stevie Nicholas, and I remember from his time at East Fife that he has an abundance of talent which should make him a stand out player at this level, but he's been really poor in the last two games, for whatever reason, and I'd leave him out tonight. A bench of Daryl, Stevie Nic, Tomana and maybe "Elvis" Pressly is still stronger than many lists of subs we've fielded this season.

I'm hoping Annan will be a little complacent tonight, having won so comfortably at the weekend. They've nothing to play for either, other than pride and the rather abstract target of finishing with more points, and maybe one place higher, than they did last season. Only a combination of Annan complacency, and a digging deep into the club's ability to grind something out unexpectedly, from sheer adversity, will see us take anything from the game tonight.

Annan is a trip I always look forward to- it's a terrific set up at Galabank, and the way the club is run, by a local committee working really hard, together, to move the club forward, is a model for us to follow in the seasons to come. There's plenty of petted lips and glum fears for the future circulating Montrose and its fans at the moment. I see it differently. With the old "leadership" gone, I see tonight- regardless of the result or performance- as the first game of a new era at Links Park. Hopefully, that era will be a lot more enjoyable on and off the pitch, than that which has transpired since 2006. However, how to move the club on from this low point, off the park, is the subject of another article.

I will put up a report sometime later on tomorrow. For those of you who follow the twitter page, log on here about kick off time, and there will be updates throughout the game.