Annan Athletic handed Aberdeen tie as reward for Premier Sports Cup progress

Annan have landed a mouth-watering Premier Sports Cup clash with Aberdeen after making history in the group stages.

They are the first League Two side to top their table in the group stages and the Galabankies’ reward is a home tie with the Dons next month.

Annan manager Peter Murphy spoke beforehand about the double reward for the club by qualifying for the knockout stages.

He said: “It’s not just the chance of playing a bigger club away but getting into the next round is also a big monetary advantage for topping the group.

“It is tens of thousands of pounds just for qualifying rather than where League Two clubs normally finish which is near the bottom.

“I have said before that this competition is not designed for League Two teams to go through and we have broken the norm.

“I am delighted for the players to make history for the club in the cup by topping the group.”

The Black and Golds are to play host to the Reds on August 30 or 31 in the last 16 of the tournament.

Aberdeen disposed of Raith 3-0 on Sunday and, in a local football twist, that ensured Queen of the South also qualified for the last 16 as one of the best runners-up in their group.

Dons new signing Bojan Miovski took just six minutes to score for his club and ensure four straight group wins. The striker, who arrived in Scotland on Friday, cracked in a penalty at Pittodrie before Ross McCrorie fired a superb second and Jonny Hayes cracked in No 3.

Defeat ended Rovers’ hopes of progress, leaving Queen of the South to secure the final place in the next stage.

Murphy is now preparing for the start of the new league season this weekend away to Stranraer and he gave the players a few days off last week to recover from their penalty shootout win over Ayr