Hot Gaz pleads to stay on goal trail

Jan 23 2008 Ayrshire Post

HERO Gareth Wardlaw ended the worst goal famine of his career and pleaded: Please keep me playing.

Wardlaw, making only his fifth start of the season, fired Ayr on the way to a 3-1 win over Alloa and had another chalked off for offside.

Now Wardlaw insists United can leave relegation play-off fears behind them and start climbing.

He said: “It’s been a frustrating season for me travelling 600 miles a week for training and games but sometimes only getting ten minutes off the bench.

“I just want to play and hopefully now I can keep my place and help the team up the league.

“We battered Alloa for 90 minutes after falling behind to a fluke goal.

“I thought it was a great team performance and we showed lots of determination to come back and win so well.”

Postie Gaz, who lives in Kinghorn, is up at 6.30am and doesn’t get home to midnight after training sessions in Ayr.

Now in his fourth season after being signed from Burntisland Shipyard, the fans’ favourite has a long way to go to recapture his season’s best 15 goal tally.

That form had Morton on his tail last summer and there has been other interest this term as he has cooled his heels on the bench. But now Wardlaw, 28, is back up and running and hoping to shoot down Queen’s Park at Somerset on Saturday.

Assistant boss Scott MacKenzie said: “Gareth came in out of the blue and took his chance well. He’s a great lad who has shown his commitment to the club by the miles he travels.

“Goals breed confidence for strikers and I hope it’s the first of many for Gareth.”