City have little time to dwell on Saturday's defeat to Cowdenbeath as we welcome Annan Athletic to Glebe Park this evening for another vital League 2 fixture.

Having slipped 3 points adrift at the foot of the table, City will be desperate to pick up a win which would pull them level with Albion Rovers at the bottom - and within a point of both Cowdenbeath and tonight's opponents.

The Galabankies have also struggled for form in League 2 this season and make the long trip north off the back of a narrow home defeat against Queens Park.

TEAM NEWS
The Manager will have the same players available to him as he did on Saturday with Sean McIntosh (hip), Przemek Nawrocki (hamstring) and Dave McKay (illness) ruled out.

MANAGERS COMMENTS
Reflecting on Saturday's defeat against Cowdenbeath, Manager Michael Paton said, "It was really disappointing from our point of view. We spoke about how vital it was to limit Cowdenbeath to as few set pieces as possible and how crucial it was to stay with your man. We put ourselves on the back foot again by giving away a corner which they ended up scoring from. Goals change games and you could see Cowdenbeath got a lift from it, whilst our heads went down and gave ourselves a mountain to climb again.

With the scoreline at 1-0, strong claims for a penalty were turned down after Jimmy Scott had been brought down in the box. Michael commented, "On the park, I thought it was a clear-cut penalty. Obviously you have that doubt in your head if the penalty isn't given, but after watching it again it's a stonewaller. We had that opportunity to get the penalty and then Jimmy (Scott) came close with a header - it would have given us a lift going into half time.

"We started the second half a bit better and we took the game to them, but then we shot ourselves in the foot by letting Iain Russell get a touch in the box and was allowed to turn far too easy for the second goal.

City continued to plug away in search of a way back into the game and it took an outstanding point-blank save from Ross Munro in the Cowden goal to deny a goal back. Michael added, "Matty (Todd) did well to get down to the byline and put a great ball in for the trialist who should have finished, but you've got to give credit to the keeper.

"It was really disappointing because it was a great opportunity to pull ourselves off the bottom of the table. As a team, the display wasn't good enough."

Looking ahead to tonight's match against Annan Athletic, he added, "Every game is important but these are the teams that are around about us so it's vital that we get the three points. We need to go out there and get the first goal - we've not done that since the Albion Rovers game and we've not hit that level of performance since. We need to start on the front foot, cut out these basic errors and stop giving ourselves a mountain to climb.

"The boys know how important this game is and it's lucky that it has come around so quick - hopefully we can go out there and put in a good performance which would soften the blow of Saturday's result."

MATCH OFFICIALS
Tonight's match referee is Gavin Ross, assisted by Colin Drummond and Gordon McCabe. Gavin previously officiated City's home fixture against Stirling Albion last month in which he issued a red card to Gregor Jordan.

LIVE MATCH STREAM
Hedge TV will be providing a live stream of tonight's match at Glebe Park. The stream will go live at 7:30pm and we recommend that users sign in/register and view the stream as early as possible.

Season ticket holders will gain access to the stream with their season pass. Non-season ticket holders can purchase pay-per-view access for £10. To register/purchase the stream, visit HEDGE TV LIVE

For those who haven't viewed live streaming via Hedge TV before, we would encourage users to read the INFORMATION PAGE and watch our free-to-air Hedge TV test stream as soon as possible. This is to ensure that your chosen device or browser performance is satisfactory before you try to watch your first live event.

PREVIOUS MEETING
Annan Athletic 5-2 Brechin City - 12 November 2019
City will be looking for a vast improvement from the last meeting between the sides as Annan ran out comfortable winners at Galabank in November last year. Ross Crawford gave City an ideal start as he headed the opener after just 2 minutes, before goals from Nathan Flanagan and Scott McLean had the hosts in front on 12 minutes. Crawford brought City back level, only for McLean to put the Galabankies ahead again two minutes later.

City's task would be made even more difficult on the stroke of half time as Christopher McLaughlin was shown a red card for foul and abusive language towards a match official. Annan took full advantage and put the game to bed in the second half, with Scott Reekie putting the ball in his own net before Lewis McLear rounded off the scoring 15 minutes from time.

SPONSORSHIP
Our matchball sponsor tomorrow is John Milne - thank you for support!