THE BARON BLOWS IN

Apr 18 2007 Ayrshire Post

STUNNED Ayr defender David Lowing has hit back at the Stirling players who labelled him a spit cheat.

And the United full back revealed how he was attacked during a tunnel brawl which took place after the fiery Somerset clash.

Lowing was accused of deliberately breaking Andy Graham’s hand and spitting on Robert Snodgrass in the fallout of Ayr’s 3-2 win.

But he says the allegations are ridiculous — and reckons he should be the one complaining after being assaulted as he headed for the dressing room.

Lowing, 24, revealed: “These claims are absolutely crazy. In the case of Andy Graham, he almost tried to rugby tackle me and my boot landed on his hand after I’d taken a shot.

“You just have to say sorry in these situations because it’s part of the game and was totally unintentional.

“The Snodgrass thing is unbelievable. I made a challenge on him which he didn’t like, so he got up and said he was going to headbutt me.

“I said ‘on you go then’ and sure enough he did. The next thing I know, he’s claiming I spat on him.

”But I’m on verge of a four match ban if I pick up another booking, and I’ve just got a new manager to impress — so why on earth would I go around headbutting someone?”

Tempers seemed to have cooled as the game reached its conclusion without a flashpoint.

However, Lowing says he got a welcoming party as he left the field and tried to reach the dressing room.

He claimed: “The bottom line is, there was a scrap and I got punched. I don’t want to say which player did it, but if anyone should have been complaining then it was me.

“But I was quite happy just to forget about it, so it’s disappointing that we’re still talking about it now.

“We record all our games and I’ll gladly send the tape off to Stirling. I haven’t even seen it yet but I know exactly what happened and that tape will show it.”

Meanwhile, United travel to Cowdenbeath on Saturday knowing they can no longer make the play-offs.

But boss Neil Watt wants to maintain the seven match unbeaten run and blood some youths.

He said: “We’ve a number of players sitting on suspension thresholds for next season like Paul Weaver, David Lowing and Eddie Forrest.

“So I may decide to have a look at our youngsters and see if we can keep this good run going to the end of the season.

“Myself and Stuart Miller are 90 per cent clear in terms of what we want from the current squad to go forward next season.

“There’s a very good basis here and the recent results have shown that.”

Chris Robertson misses the trip to Fife through suspension while Brian Reid and Martyn Campbell are struggling once again with injury.