Match Report from: Duncan Smith

Annan enjoyed their second win on the bounce at Violetbank on Saturday to give their West Division 1 campaign a real shot in the arm.

The home side fronted up physically to make it a home and away double against Kilmarnock following their opening-day win in Ayrshire at the start of the season.

It lifts Annan up to seventh in the table and coach Juan Phyfer was thrilled with the effort. “In the first half we ran away with it with three really well executed tries,” said Phyfer.

Those scores came after Kilmarnock had opened the scoring with a penalty and had Annan in a strong position after only 20 minutes.

Sean Haren touched down for the first before Andrew Jancey pounced on a delicious box kick by Fraser McMillan before Jame Kirby added the third, with McMillan converting two.

“It’s coming, the boys are really starting to identify gaps in attack,” added Phyfer. “It was such a good performance. One of those where it’s difficult to pick out standouts but I thought James Kirby had a great game on the wing in defence and attack. But everyone put their hand up. The bricks are slowly getting put into place for Violetbank to be a difficult place for teams to come to.”

The second half was more of a defensive effort as the bonus point eluded Annan and Kilmarnock were able to grab a late consolation.

One final attempt to get five points rather than four from the game went abegging due to some confusion in the dying seconds when Johnny Callaghan misunderstood the referee and instead of a home lineout in the opposing 22 his kick into touch led to an anti-climactic final whistle.

Annan now travel to Dalziel in two weeks’ time. Another huge match as the 1st XV strive to put some distance between themselves and the relegation spots.

Annan Starting XV: 1 Ryan Glass 2 Callum Bell 3 Kerian Warrick (C) 4 Frazer Hope 5 James Morrison 6 Callum Smith 7 Ryan Hetherington 8 Sean Haren 9 Fraser McMillan 10 Josh Whiteside 11 James Kirby 12 Johnny Callaghan 13 Alex Halliday 14 John Glendinning 15 Andrew Jancey

Subs used: 16 Andy McGreevy 17 Aitken Render 18 Willie Grey 19 Ollie Ferdinand