Watt wants to home in

Sep 5 2007 Ayrshire Post

AYR UNITED are gunning for a home tie when the draw for the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup is made at Hampden today (Thursday).

For after three successive cup away days, Ayr are desperate to put on a Somerset Park show before their own fans.

Goals from Alex Williams and Ryan Stevenson — his fifth in five games — gave them a 2-0 win at Forfar on Tuesday evening.

It stretched their unbeaten run to five games and gave them a third clean sheet win on the trot.

Boss Neil Watt made two changes from the team that beat Alloa on Saturday, bringing in Barry John Corr and David Lowing for Mark McGeown and Stephen Swift.

It took Ayr 32 minutes to hit the front when Williams fired home his second goal of the season after Michael Moore headed a cross into his path.

The tie was killed as a contest 12 minutes after the interval when on-form Stevenson sent a great shot from the edge of the box high into the net.

Forfar, who had two players sent off at the weekend, saw red again with four minutes to go when Martin Fotheringham was dismissed for lashing out at sub Gareth Wardlaw.

STAR MEN: ***Alex Williams; **Ryan Stevenson; *Craig Pettigrew.

FORFAR: Reid, Smith, Tulloch, Allison, Ovenstone, Fotheringham, Stuart (Grady 79), Kerrigan, Duell, Lombardi (Watson 83), Beith. Unused subs: Dunn, Kilgannon, Wood.

AYR: Corr; Forrest, Henderson, Robertson; Pettigrew, Hamilton, Stevenson, Dunn, Lowing; Moore (Wardlaw 72), Williams. Unused subs: Casey, Vareille, Weaver, McGeown.

Referee: Mike Tumilty; Crowd: 333.