Annan hero Greg Fleming was elated to have helped make Scottish football history as part of the first League Two side to top the group stages.
He played a massive part in an action-packed finish at Galabank by saving a spot-kick in the penalty shootout then scoring one in a dramatic 5-4 sudden death triumph.
Fleming had pulled off an astonishing point-blank save from Ayr sub Fraser Bryden in regulation time during the Group F match of the Premier Sports Cup and was only beaten with a Bryden shot in 71 minutes which took two deflections.
The Black and Golds also played the last 13 minutes with 10 men after Dominic Docherty was dismissed for a second booking.
Fleming said of his stunning save: “To be fair, it was a reaction and it hit off my chest...then it hit a post.
“Their goal took a couple of deflections. It was going to my right and it has hit a couple of players then clipped the inside of the post and I hoped it was going to come out, but it didn’t.
“To be honest, I didn’t think the game was slipping away from us because we have a group of players that fights to the very end and we did that in the play-off too (against FC Edinburgh) and in the last minute then we were battling and creating a lot of chances.
“Even being down to 10 men, the belief we have in each other is great and we knew we would get one chance and it was just about whether we took it or not.”
Galabankies goal hero Tony Wallace (inset) buried a penalty five minutes into stoppage time after sub Benjy Luissint was brought down from behind by Ayr’s Mark McKenzie.
That earned Annan a crucial point to clinch the top berth in Group F and a tilt at a big gun in the last 16 of the competition before Charlie Barnes cracked his penalty into the bottom left for a 5-4 triumph following Fleming’s save from Ayr’s unfortunate McKenzie.
Fleming added: “To be honest, I don’t do research now into penalty takers.
“They change their penalties all the time.
“I took a penalty and I actually take them sometimes at the end of training with the keeper coach so it is something we have worked on.
“Assistant boss Colin McMenamin said I was on penalty number six but I had hoped to be in the first five! But to score one (in sudden death) then save one right after it, well, you couldn’t write it could you?”
New signing Luissint came on as a second-half substitute for Chris Johnston with eight minutes left and was sent tumbling in the box deep into injury time.
That gave Wallace the opportunity to crack home a penalty equaliser in regulation time and spark wild celebrations of players and fans for clinching the crucial point to make history. The match moved to a penalty shootout but it was virtually meaningless to the Galabankies who were already through before Charlie Barnes sealed the 5-4 triumph.
Luissint insisted: “It was definitely a penalty.
“Their player came into the back of me and caught my leg. It was a penalty, 100 per cent.”
