A well deserved victory for the visitors in my opinion but they must have thought they were coasting at 2-0 and against 10 men? Our lads did well to get it back to 2-2 but their third goal proved to be the 'killer' even though we still had two excellent chances when we ought to have scored.

All the best in the final lads.

Another player off against Edin? What happened?

dirty cheating diving barstewards, thats what happened

Can well believe it Ray! Looking foreward to final next week. Come on Gretna

They were full of the "old pros tricks" just like last time - trying to con the ref, being poleaxed, riling our young lads! For sure they had the measure of us today.

Fair play to the visitors though - they did the job they needed to do and now go marching onto the final.

sad to see the club playing teams like Edinburgh City, when not long ago they were up againstthe likes of Rangers, Celtic etc. Hope to see you guys back up in the divisions soon.

p.s James Grady will never be forgiven for his last gasp goal against Ross County which sent you to premier league, rather that St Johnstone.

Yawn.

These things happen, old club, now new Gretna. Young team, will improve. We will loose some players of course. Some of the lads will move on to sfl, the way it goes. Proud of them all, Come on Gretna.

I almost responded to some of the crap written above, but why bother? I was at the match. Obviously not all the posters were.

City went 2-0 up and (like Gretna said) seemed to be coasting, and I was worried. On the past performance, I thought Gretna must have something in reserve. They certainly did, and we got our arses kicked for most of the second half. When the equaliser went in with 4 minutes left - after at least 2 off the metalwork - the boys on our sides of the ropes were saying "it's only fair" and thinking here's extra time, another half hour at least until we can get back to the Blue Bell.

Robbie Ross got that goal with 2 minutes of normal time which got us into the final. I'll take a victory wherever we can take it, but (1) Gretna were bloody unlucky not to get extra time, and (2) City don't cheat.

At least 5 bookings (I lost count) for City, including Ross Mac and Robbie? Nothing 'old pro' about that. It looked to me as though the ref wasn't even trying to apportion blame - if there was any sort of clash, both players got booked, no arguments. The second yellow for your man ... stonewall.

Unless things go really pear-shaped, Gretna will be in the Premier Division next season; deservedly and welcome. (And very probably champions.) But when you do, you'll find teams much much much worse than City so far as old-pro-ism goes. Gretna have certainly got the talent to survive and thrive in the Premier ... but the nut needs to be screwed, on the pitch and elsewhere. Just sometimes, a decision can be given against Gretna because it is the correct decision.

I've come out of retirement to congratulate City on reaching the cup final. After being eliminated and reinstated, is their name on the old trophy? Not sure if I'll be there, but well done to City anyway.

Some of the Gretna fans on this site talk absolute crap!! And let their team down.

And i do not mean all. Gretna are IMO a credit to the East of Scotland league, passionate crowd, good young team (bit inexperienced) they are a little ropey at the back at times but for raw ability there are not many teams in the league (prem or first) that are better.

I for one can not wait for them to join the prem and some of those players in that team WILL play at a higher level.
For me, the young lad who played wide right, was poor in the 1st half but superb in the second.

But the cream of the crop....Nicholson up front is one of the best forwards i have seen in many years watching EOS football......awesome

We have our own frontmen who have represented Scotland in Robbie Ross and Steven Clee but this guy is top notch

Good luck with the rest of the season guys

And on one final note, i really like the look af the management team, passionate ans (seem) to know what they are talking about.

Nicholson is a different style of striker to Ross and Clee, however, agreed, this guy is certainly top notch in the EOS at the moment. I believe Willie Darroch EOS Manager was very disappointed when he couldnt make the last game.

Us gretna fans do get a bit excited!! Think we are just pleased we have a team up and running. Yes players prob bit in-experenced, still young lads. Management team doing great job, roll on final next week.

both city players involved in the red card incidents had to go of injured as a result dont think they were conning anybody both red cards were stick ons.all the best in your final next week

Who was sent off on Saturday for Gretna?

Curtis Wood was sent off

Thanks. What position does he play?

Think right back

Good to see Gretna playing well and getting good results. Just one thing though that is annoying a large number of football fans in Annan- when both teams warm up before the game why do they insist on using the 2 smaller pitches at the Everholm? There is enough space down there to warm up without using these pitches. They are getting ruined before a Sunday when numerous teams are playing in Annan and struggling to find a pitch. I have a feeling that this is going to be raised at a higher level, I mean are Gretna paying for these other two pitches????

New Gretna, same old Gretna minus $$. Nae brains, as thick as mince but still able to pull strings within the Leisure Trust.

Sensible thing to do would be get back to Gretna Community FC pitch just along the road from Raydale. Get back to your own doorstep to where it all began and stop aggrivating the youths and kids that play on the Everholm on a Sunday.

It doesn;t have adequate changing facilities and is not fenced off therefore not suitable according to EOSFA rules.

We'll be back at Raydale soon enough.

As for the game, I thought we were very poor in the first half but, once again, came back stronger int he second. The boys certainly have a lot of character (they're always come back from 1 or 2 goals down) and the sending off seemed to galvanise them somehow, but why can they not do it from the start of the game?

I thinkthe player referred to earlier as playing "wide right" is Carmichael, who plays up fornt really but drifted rigth quite a lot on Saturday, especially in the first half.

Although disappointed to lose, it was a very entertaining game. Our boys are certainly talented but need to grow up a little bit and become a bit more wise to football at this level, this is resulting in too many bookings and sending offs.

The ref was a bit card happy though was he not?! He gave countless yellows for players "arguing back" which were well over the top. The linesman on our side "Heartbeat's Claude Greengrass" (did you see him?!) showed us his note book- it was pretty full!

Still bitter that 4 of our boys turned down the chance to get pumped every week playing for you pishy c***s

Pumped every week?? 5-0 win on Saturday me thinks.

You stick to the lower leagues old boy, playing on crappy public parks against wannabe players who can't quite make the step up to senior football.

Bet the away teams can't wait to travel to Gretna to play aginst you, wait a minute....... you don't even play at Gretna!!! Don't slag successful teams off when you don't even have a park

wowee, u can beat elgin!!!!!!! annan are shit, always have been, always will be. we are that bad, you want our players, what a laugh!!!!!

Had a quick go at the maths and the average age of the City team that started on Saturday was 22. If it weren't for the OAP at centre half , you could knock another year off that number.

The experience comes from playing at this level for a number of years not through age alone. City try to give their youth players a chance. Six of the players who started on Saturday have played upwards of 100 games for City, that and the fact we play at a higher level week in week out is probably the difference between the sides.

Less of the 'old pros tricks' jibes please

Hope it comes off for you at Raydale and all the best for your first final on saturday but i think youve missed the point.

The fact that both teams are warming up on the outside pitches when these pitches are being deemed unplayable on a Sunday is causing a great amount of heartache for the local teams using them(Sunday amateur sides and youth). A touch more consideration and thought from the club officials involved would soon sort this out. I.E warm up on the same pitch you've quite rightly hired and paid for.

How are you successful???

Quick fix, cheaper on the council tax and in no particular order : steal a length of rope, pinch some stowers (fence posts to you lot), burn down the old changing rooms then claim off the insurance. Just like the good old days or are some of thats not so local hoping the local council will bail you oot. Talk about mismanagement. You lived the dream once and now you want the council to allow you to have a repeat. Yer having a laugh, now get yer bikes and get back to your village green next to How much will my Loanbworth on the open Road.

Sad as it may you me thinks Raydale should be sold to the highest bidder and all outstanding debts paid off.

Pied Piper of Hamlet and Lambs to the Slaughter ring any bells. You lived the dream and now its over.

Which league was it you finished a lowly 7th in last season? Face it, the current Gretna team would take about 4 off Annan quite easily

You having a laugh

Idiot

Annan

Gained entry to the SFL on merit

Compliant SFL ground

Very good start in the SFL, not unexpected stutter but recovering

Won the premier cup available to EoS sides last year with (I think) a great come back against a good City side

Gretna

No ground, winning some fans with your play but you won't win any more with making twatty comments about a team like Annan.

Let's see how you do over the next few years before you start gobbing off - try winning a few things first

At last someone is talking sense, excellent post.

Well said - after all..............we've not heard Spartans making twatty comments about anyone have we?


Lol

That's why I love you like a doo Grumpy!

Click to view attachment

remind me who annan are playing this weekend!?

No game as we were beaten earlier in the cup by a very good Spartans side who might just go up to Elgin and cause another upset on Saturday.

In the coming weeks though we play Forfar, Berwick, Dumbarton and Stenhousemuir, 2 of these game are at our HOME ground (that's somewhere you play your HOME games)

You just stick to your own wee level son, playing the likes of the mighty Kelso, Gala and Hawick on the council pitch in Annan.

Glad to see Gretna bashings still a sport down here,it had all gone quiet for a while!!But its not like we havent heard it all before, yawn!!!

I haven't missed the point at all. I totally understand your point about the other pitches and it's a completely valid point. I actually said to my mate when we were walking form the Blue Bell past those pitches: "Who's that playing there?" not realising it was the Edinburgh City boys warming up! I never even considered that the teams would be warming up on a different pitch! Maybe it's something the club need to look at. We're not in the business of making enemies.

I was just pointing out that there only is one adeuqate facility in Gretna for us to play at and unfortunately we can't play at Raydale just now!

Thanks for the good luck for the final!

I wasn't slagging Annan off. They are a local team and therefore I want them to do well. Obviously I'm a Gretna fan so go and watch Gretna, but still look out for the Annan results.

I was merely asking what you thought constitutes "success". You consider gaining entry into the SFL a success. Is that it for you though? Would you not like anything more? I think we're quite successful in that we've managed to build a team from virtually nothing by the hard work of our Supporter's Trust and others after the disappointment of our old club being ran into the ground.

Each to their own.

You've got your posters mixed up P but no matter.

Do I consider gaining entry to the SFL as success? On any objective assessment the answer to that has to be yes as we know from painful experience that entry was dependent on a whole host of factors, not just the ground but financials and playing record and needed a whole team of committed people behind the club.

All credit to you guys getting a club up and running which the EoS have taken a bit of a punt on given your ground situation but you ain't done anything yet. what you've shown is promise not success.

Would I as a Spartans fan consider entry to the SFL as the height of success and limit of ambition? No I wouldn't but then I expect neither do Henry and his team at Annan. They've been a long time building that club and are not likely to p*ss it all up against the wall for short term gratification they can't afford - sound familiar?

My response was actually to another poster who was slighting Annan's record in the EoS last year. It's not uncommon for teams in the EoS to finish well down the year after they win, usually I would think as players have moved on which I believe was the case with Annan.

Their's no Gretna bashing agenda going on but if your fans are going to come on here posting p*sh about teams that have been there, done it and got the t shirt and are likely to be around for a long time yet then they can expect to get some comments back.

If you would like to have a sit down some time and chat through a blueprint for developing a community facility including your own ground I'm sure we would be on;ly too happy to oblige.

All the best with your season - on and off the park.

Only because of our bet

im the same , if annan wins my coupons down

Ha. Not just for that, but it does make me want Annan to win more!

Cheerz for your support Hugo. I just want to ask, did any1 actually see gretna warming up on the pitch? I you take a quick look behind the goals you'll see where gretna did their warm up, I seen it with my own eyes.......! So think pc plod should get his facts correct. He should remember which towns neds pay his wages, (just kidding). The fact of the matter is the pitches are located on a flood plain and the games on sunday would of been called off even before gretna got there! Fair comment? Cmon the gretna

Jimmy Calderwood has said he'll resign if Aberdeen win a trophy- well, Shaun, if City win a cup...?
given City's record in recent finals I think he won't have to start typing a resignation letter....