Ayr United cause not helped by red mist

Oct 31 2008 by Mike Wilson

SKIPPER Chris Aitken has ordered Ayr to turn back the clock and knuckle down for a title fight.

And he insists the Honest Men can close the six point gap on leaders Brechin if they revert to their early season form.

Aitken's third goal of the campaign put Ayr in the driving seat against his former club but John O'Neil equalised after the break before Ryan Stevenson was sent off for mouthing at a linesman.

Aitken had a measure of sympathy for the midfield muscle man and felt his first booking for a tangle with Binos skipper Ross Forsyth was harsh.

He claimed: "I don't think he should have got the first booking. However, for the second he apparently swore at the linesman and we all know you can't do that. It was a bad blow because in the first-half we played well but once we went down to ten men it was backs to the wall. The sending-off changed the game.

"Brechin are now starting to open a gap so we can't afford any more slip-ups. But we lost only once in the first eight so we need to get the sleeves rolled up and get back into the mix. We need to be there or questions will be asked by the manager.

"A home draw is a bad result and it's only a good point because we played the last half hour with ten men."

Ayr mastered the driving rain and fierce wind to deservedly nose in front after 30 minutes. Aitken played the ball out wide to Allan Dempsie and then steamed in to chest down the cross and volley home.

It was almost 2-0 after 51 minutes when the energetic Ryan Borris played in David Gormley and the striker's angled drive was scrambled off the line by the back tracking Forsyth.

Stirling hadn't been seen as an attacking force until an out of the blue equaliser three minutes later. Mark Docherty laid the ball off to O'Neil who buried a left foot strike from 20 yards into the top corner.

The game turned in 58 minutes when Stevenson foolishly made comments to a linesman and picked up a second yellow to leave his team-mates up against it.

Ayr withdrew a striker and went 4-4-1 but the impetus was now with Stirling who homed in on Stephen Grindlay. The keeper had a superb double save from subs Ian Harty and Martin Grehan and then dived full length to turn a Grehan header around the post.

United carried menace on the break and in a swift counter attack, Aitken had a shot blocked from Gormley's cut-back.

Boss Brian Reid claimed: "If we had been more ruthless we could have won it. We're still unbeaten at home but we really need to win these games."

STAR MEN: ***Ryan Borris; **Stephen Grindlay; *David Gormley.

AYR - Grindlay; Keenan, Walker, Campbell, McGowan (Agnew 67); Dempsie, Stevenson, Aitken, Borris; Prunty, Gormley. Unused subs: Stewart, Williams, Henderson, Gillies. Booked: Stevenson; Sent off: Stevenson

STIRLING: Hogarth; Graham, Lowing (Devine 81), Lawrie, Forsyth, O'Neil, Taggart (Grehan 55), Molloy, McKenna (Harty 65), Corr, Docherty. Unused subs: Christie, Murphy. Booked: O'Neil, Graham. Forsyth, Molloy.

Ref: Alan Muir. Crowd: 1070.