Stirling Albion’s Kieran McAnespie has a well-deserved reputation for having a sweet left foot that can cause opponents trouble, however fans of League 2 action saw a fairly rare sight last weekend as he rose to head home an equaliser for the Forthbank side at Elgin.
McAnespie’s goal made the score 2-2 and Stirling went on to complete their recovery from two goals down to win 3-2 at Borough Briggs.
The 34-year-old who started his career at St. Johnstone and moved to Fulham in 2000 has donned the colours off 11 senior clubs since and he reckons that his prowess in the air has been overlooked as he is normally the one sending in crosses.
McAnespie said: “For a wee guy I am not too bad in the air so it was no real surprise to me to score. However I am the one that is usually taking the free kicks and corners or putting crosses in so it was a rare event.”
“I did score one early in my career when I was with St. Johnstone. It was only my second senior goal and I also scored a headed goal in a game against Hibs but unfortunately that was an own goal.”
“I will be getting known now for heading the ball which is strange as throughout my career I have been known for my left footed deliveries.”
The 34-year-old has been involved in the game for nearly two decades after joining the Perth side as a youngster and apart from a short spell out after playing for Morton he has enjoyed every minute of it.
McAnespie said: “I have been playing senior since 1997 so you could say I love football. After I had been at Morton and had a disappointing time I chucked the game, well chucked the senior game at least.”
“I went and played at other levels as I have always enjoyed the camaraderie that surrounds teams and the dressing room banter. I have always enjoyed keeping fit and whilst I left the senior game I was glad to do that by playing.”
When you consider that McAnespie had been involved in the Scotland World Cup 1998 campaign as a boot-boy to gain experienced and can list Fulham, Hearts, Bournemouth, Plymouth Argyle, Falkirk, Ayr United, Alloa, Dumbarton and Arbroath amongst his former clubs, his move out of the game aged 30 was a fairly unique one.
“I went back to my first ever team, Milngavie Wanderers,” said McAnespie before adding: “And played at an amateur level with them. It was something I had always wanted to do at the end of my career. I thought that is where I was and I was enjoying playing with them when I got the chance to join Bellshill Juniors. From there I went back to the senior ranks with Arbroath.”
“Paul Sheerin was an old team-mate of mine at St. Johnstone and he just nipped in ahead of Stirling to sign me. I was training at Forthbank however it was at the time of their fans’ takeover and the manager at the time John O’Neill could not firm anything up until that was completed.”
“I went to Arbroath and I was glad that I did as we had a terrific season in the Third Division. In fact we won it which was the first ever trophy in their history.”
McAnespie enjoyed his time at Gayfield amongst some familiar faces as he explained: “It was great to be with the club all the way that season. We went through the process of being a brand new team and getting some bad results in the first quarter through to winning the league in a bit of style.”
“There were a fair few ex-St Johnstone players there at the time with Josh Falkingham, Stuart Malcolm, Steven Doris and Marc McCulloch who is now my assistant manager at Stirling Albion.”
It was the third winners’ medal of McAnespie’s career as he explained: “I won the First Division with St Johnstone in 1996-97 and I got a medal for that. I was only 17 but played enough games to be recognised.”
His form at the Perth club saw McAnespie earn a move to England as he explained: “I was also part of the Fulham squad that won the English First Division and got into the Premiership 13 years ago. That seems a long time ago, in fact that was the end of the start of my career.”
Whilst McAnespie did not remain a player in England however he had made friends for life as he explained: “I had good pals down there in Mark Hudson, Glen Thomson, NJ Lampton as well as the kit-men Gary Glen and Alan Devon.
“Mark now works at Cardiff and when I get an opportunity I will go down and meet him but it is difficult with playing.”
Rather than looking back McAnespie is looking forward at the moment and hoping to secure a fourth promotion in his career.
McAnespie said: “The season with Stirling has been a bit up and down. Injuries have hurt us especially in defence where we have had to move people around and that makes it hard to reach a consistently high level.”
“However we have a decent squad and we have learned how to handle things now. I have started playing in central defence which was new to me after I got flung into it just before a game at Queen’s Park.”
“Mark Ferry and I had been dropped to the bench before a game at Queen’s Park at Hampden and Jamie Bishop was injured in the warm up. I started and we won and to be honest as long as I am playing football I am happy.”
The Forthbank side’s comeback win at Elgin moved them back into third place and it could prove to have been an important success in their campaign with McAnespie saying: “I came on when we were 2-1 down with 15 minutes left. We had lost a bad goal when a good cross from Paul Harkins set up Sean Crighton for a good header and then we lost a poor second.”
“I was just on when I got forward to head in and it is always good to score. I like going forward and I like to attack but I am usually limited as I am played at the back. I played in midfield last season and scored three goals in four games so it was nice to find the net again.”
With 9 teams in the race for promotion, wins are important and McAnespie said: “The league is incredibly tight. Peterhead looked to have got a stranglehold on top spot but if we can go on a run we can challenge them.”
“We are playing Queen’s Park this weekend and coming across a very experienced manager in Gus McPherson. He is good at getting the best out of players. They have good players there but confidence can be an issue especially in a tough, tough league.”
“We set our target as the Play-Offs at the start of the season. If we make them it shows an improvement from last season. Each game gets taken one at time and that will be the approach as we look to pick up points between now and the end of the season.”
McAnespie finished by saying: “Peterhead have the league by the scruff of the neck just now but if we grab our games in a similar way we can stay in the top four.”
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