After finding themselves 2-0 down 20 minutes in, following strikes from Owen Stirton and Blair Lyons, Black and Golds captain Tommy Muir popped up with two magnificent headers to salvage a point.
There is little doubt that Annan, who completely dominated the second period, would have went on to get a winner had the game been just a few minutes longer.
But the result could still turn out to be massive come the end of the season as Annan battle to remain in the Scottish third tier.
Gibson said: “I want to touch on the positives today. There’s been negatives, we could get carried away with the negatives in terms of the first half performance where we found ourselves 2-0 down.
“But I want to praise the boys for their second half performance. Their fight and desire to go and get a goal to get back in the game.
“And then Luca (Ross) has put in a great delivery for the second goal. I think the game just didn’t have enough time left to go and grab a winner, because I thought all the momentum was ours. Their manager said the same thing.
“It’s a point, we’ll stick to the positives and we’ve got to build on it. We’ve got another tough game next week.”
As a result of their later 4 pm kick off, due to the Montrose team bus being diverted, at halftime Gibson could have taken a peak at full-time results elsewhere which would have shown Inverness a single point behind after their win at Alloa, but he did not.
He added: “I didn’t bother looking. We can’t impact what happens elsewhere, I’ve always said that. You’ve just got to look after yourself.
“It’s a difficult one when you come off the park, it’s 2-2 and only a point, and you see other results the way they are.
“You’ve just got to move on, very quickly, and prepare for next week.
“We know the mistakes that we made in the first half, but I thought the boys reacted really well in the second half.”
Versatile Muir on target
AFTER appearing as a central defender in the previous week’s 3-0 defeat to Inverness, Tommy Muir led the line and took his goal tally for the season to five after two bullet headers.
Gibson said: “If Rhys Breen was available last week (for the Inverness game) then Tam was going to play up front. It wasn’t until the Thursday until we knew Rhys wasn’t going to be available after he went over on his ankle in training. That changes the whole dynamic of it.
“Tam was a physical presence up front which any team would hate.
“He puts himself about and goes and throws his body at it and gets two great goals.
“Sometimes, with personnel and availability, if you play him up top we’re maybe weaker at the back. But we’re starting to get boys back.”
Key players returning, while others leave . . . for now
SCOTT Hooper was solid in defence for Athletic after being substituted on for the second half.
Unfortunately he had to leave the field in the final minutes after taking an elbow to the face, but Gibson knows his return will give the squad great encouragement as the business end of the season approaches.
The manager said: “It was good to see Scott Hooper coming on, it was probably just too early for him to get 90 minutes.
“It’s great to see him back and it gives a massive lift to everybody.
“Aidan will be back from suspension next week, that’s another massive player coming back.
“Max Kilsby can’t be too far away, his ankle swelling is going down and he’s been running for the past few days.
“(Tommy Goss) is following a programme from the surgeon, and we’ll leave that to the specialists.
“We won’t rush him back, because we know with the type of injury that he’s had he’s going to have to do the recovery properly to avoid any set backs.
“But like I said last week we need another couple in and we’re working really hard this week to try and get people in.
“We know where we are as a football club and we know where we are in the league. We just need to work together to try and make the most of it.”
The manager also confirmed that Rhys Breen had returned to Dunfermline after his loan spell had reached its end.
Gibson added: “He’ll have discussions with Dunfermline on Monday and then we’ll pick it up from there.
“From our point of view we’re desperate to keep him and he knows that. Hopefully we can keep him but that will be down to Dunfermline.”
