Annan make the 520 mile round trip to Elgin this weekend knowing that a win is required to keep their Third Division Play-Off hopes alive and midfielder Jack Steele is determined that his own 20 hour trip is rewarded with three points.
Steele has been at Galabank for nearly three seasons and has seen improvements at the SFL’s newest club every seasons and he is now hoping that after almost dropping out of the promotion chase, Harry Cairney’s side are coming back to the boil just at the right time.
Steele said: “It has been a strange season as we started really well and won seven of our first eight games and were flying at that time. We then suffered a couple of defeats and that confidence quickly left and we have struggled to put a run of wins together since then.
“We have got back into things and the Elgin game is a massive one but we can win it. I am a bit surprised that we are still in the promotion hunt as anyone can beat anyone in this division. However, we showed at the start of the season that we can win consistently and if we succeed in our last four games, we will be incredibly close to a Play-Off place.”
Elgin City’s heavy defeat to newly crowned Champions Alloa Athletic last week has put a spring in the step of the Galabank chasers with Steele saying: “It was a shock to learn that they had lost 8-1. We were six points behind and nine goals worse off so that one game has taken away most of the advantage they had through goal difference. We now need to win this one and hope that Elgin drop points in another game.”
Saturday will be a long day for Steele as he explained: “It is a half past six start for this game as I drive to Moffat where the Dumfries boys get picked up by the team bus and I won’t get home until half two in the morning. To be honest, we would settle for a 1-0 win at Borough Briggs now and that would make the return journey fly by.”
Steele offers an interesting insight into Annan’s mid-season slump as he said: “We have heard some criticism for our approach to the game which has been unfair. We have been accused of only launching the ball forward but we actually play a lot of football.
“We are playing more football than ever but that has worked against us once pitches started to suffer in the autumn and winter. Now that pitches are getting better, we are getting back to playing well and that is the opposite of what people have said about us.”
Steele’s own journey to the middle of the park for Annan is a fairly unique one as it involves starring alongside a former Scotland player at boy's club level, TV stardom alongside José Mourinho and then playing rugby for a year.
“I started off playing football at Maxwelltown Thistle in Dumfries where I am from,” said Steele before adding, “I played alongside Aaron Muirhead, who of course, is at Annan with me now, and Grant Hanley who now plays for Blackburn Rovers and Scotland.”
Solid appearances for Maxwelltown led to Steele joining Queen of the South’s youth programme as he explained: “I joined them when I was 13 and Ian McCall was the Manager. I was there until I was 18 when they went full-time and I left to go to university.”
Prior to going to university, Steele had some fun as he took part in the Football Icon, two programme that were run by Sky TV and was designed to give young, unsigned football players between the ages of 16 and 18 a chance to win a contract with the then Premiership Champions, Chelsea.
Thousands of players entered and were whittled down to fourteen finalists, all of whom were put to the test at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground.
Steele made it to the final 14 and further as he explained: “The players were eliminated week by week and I made it to the final six. Jose Mourinho was involved in picking the winner and Jamie Redknapp did all the presenting so it was quite high profile.
“Doing well there led to trials at Wrexham and Bradford but I had been in London for 13 weeks and to be honest, I was pretty sick of football by then so I never pursued it.”
Steele, who turns 23 next week, said: “I decided to take some time off from football and went off and played rugby for a year. I was studying at Edinburgh University and concentrated on that as well as the rugby.”
East of Scotland side Dalbeattie Star enticed Steele back into the game and his performances with the Islecroft side led to his move to Annan in July, 2009.
Steele explained: “Dalbeattie were in the East of Scotland League and I enjoyed playing with them. It was my first taste of football at senior level and, of course, there is a wee bit of rivalry between them and Annan.
"We played Annan in a Cup Final and beat them 5-0 at Galabank and I presume I caught the Manager’s eye even though I played right back that day.
“Harry signed me after that game.”
Steele has continued his football journey alongside experienced players at Galabank as he explained: “I knew Sean O’Connor from our time at Queen of the South and it is great to have him here as he is a very experienced player. Our Assistant Manager, Andy Aitken, was also there and he is great at helping us out as we are quite a young team.
“We had Neil Macfarlane last season which helped a lot but now we just call Chris Jardine the Grandad of our team.
“Of course, Aaron is here and he scored our goal last week with a penalty in the 1-1 draw with Berwick. He likes a penalty does Aaron and he likes hitting a free kick as well.”
If Annan are to turn things around and make the Play-Offs it will be a second season running with Steele out to help his club make up for last season’s disappointment of falling at the final hurdle against Albion Rovers.
Steele said: “I played in the Play-Offs last season and I really enjoyed our two games in the Semi-Final against Alloa. I scored in the first leg and that helped get us through but we made a couple of horrific mistakes in the first leg at Coatbridge and that gave us too much to do in the second leg.”
Despite that set back, it has still been a time of growth at Annan with Steele saying: “The Manager and Chairman Henry McClelland gave us an update on the artificial pitch going down in the summer just last week. That is just one of the many developments that the club is making. Annan are a very progressive club and want to make the most of reaching the standard required to be full members of the SFL.”
Steele is enjoying his career at Annan saying: “It is good to be part of a club that is moving forward. I have scored five times this season which is not too bad a return but I would not mind a couple more.
“I am now a qualified PE teacher and am working in my probationary year and I enjoy combining both careers. The nearest part-time team to me apart from Annan is Albion Rovers which is quite a distance so I am happy with where I am just now.”
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