Saturday’s victory over Forres Mechanics was exactly what was needed for Academy fans after the disastrous cup final the previous weekend.
On a rare sunny day at the Harmsworth, it was like watching the Academy of old as we mixed some suspect defending with, more importantly, scintillating attacking play as Davie Allan, Steven Anderson and Lukasz Geruzel ripped the Forres defence apart in a 4-3 victory.
The game emphasised the excellent work Cove put in the previous week, as Allan and Anderson were afforded more space against the Can-Cans than they could have ever dreamed of getting against our cup final opponents.
Some conflicting schedules meant that the club’s traditional end-of-season awards were held on Saturday instead of at the final home game, which doesn’t come until May 2nd.
Congratulations must go to Davie Allan and Grant Campbell, who picked up the Supporters’ Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year trophies respectively. They were the two outstanding performers of the season and it was fitting that they shared the two main prizes.
The other awards were a bit more contentious, with Steven Anderson winning Most Improved and Sean McCarthy taking Young Player of the Year.
For me, Ross Allan would have been a more deserving recipient of Most Improved, such has been his sudden emergence as a top-quality left back this year, displacing Gary Manson from the first team.
While Anderson has been hugely impressive, he only needed a few substitute appearances to acclimatise himself to his new team-mates before he began making a real impact. Improvement season-to-season cannot be judged given this is his debut campaign.
Ross Allan, on the other hand, defines improvement. He had been on the fringes of the squad for the past few years, usually deployed as a left winger before being given a chance at left back by manager Gordon Connelly in pre-season.
There were some, me included, who were left unimpressed by those performances, questioning his defensive capabilities in the position.
But he got the nod when the competitive games started and he has been outstanding ever since, solid at the back and fantastic going forward.
The broken leg he suffered in March was a huge blow and the fact that his absence has been so sorely felt shows how important he has become to the team.
Not to deprive Anderson of a well-deserved award, I’d have given him Young Player of the Year ahead of McCarthy, who has, though, had a solid first season in goal.