No defence for Ayr United's shoddy display

Jan 23 2009 by Mike Wilson

BRIAN REID claimed Ayr could have played all night and not scored as fired-up Stirling brought his Scottish Cup battlers crashing back to earth.

After their heroics of the rousing 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock, United were forced to play second fiddle at freezing Forthbank.

Boss Reid admitted: "I'm very disappointed because the two goals we conceded were both as the result of very slack defending. We never created as many chances as we have been and never looked like scoring. We looked as if we could have played all night although their keeper had a couple of decent saves in poor conditions.

"The players had been well warned about how important this game was and of the need to keep the run going. We knew how difficult it would be but too many players were off the boil. There were tired legs and some were a bit lethargic but we should have done a lot better.

"It was a bad day at the office all round although Bryan Prunty feels he should have had a stonewall penalty and is very aggrieved."

The tough tackling Binos haven't given up on the play-offs after a dismal start and they showed their intentions after only three minutes when Stephen Grindlay has to make a smart save from a Martin Grehan header.

Martyn Campbell and Willie Easton had to leave the field for treatment as tackles flew in while Ryan Stevenson was on the receiving end of some meaty challenges. And Campbell was kept indoors at half-time with an achilles knock which meant a rare introduction for Murray Henderson.

Reid claimed: "It wasn't ideal having to change central defenders at half-time but it was forced upon us and when big Murray came on he was feeling his hamstring. Stirling were throwing themselves in front of things and that's the way you have to do it to defend properly."

Seven minutes after the restart, Prunty seemed to be hauled down by Sean Roycroft but penalty claims were waved aside by referee Neil Watters.

Stirling nosed in front two minutes later when veteran John O'Neill set up Grehan to shoot under the exposed Grindlay. Alex Williams and new signing Kenny Connolly from Motherwell came off the bench for Allan Dempsie and Paul Weaver as Ayr went with three up. A super 30 yard rocket from Stevenson looked bound for the top corner until keeper Scott Christie produced a stunning save.

Stirling then had Ross Forsyth sent off for a two footed lunging challenge on their former skipper Chris Aitken which brought a furious reaction but Ayr couldn't make the extra man count.

And with 15 minutes to go, Stirling wrapped up victory when sub Ryan McCord cut inside Henderson and, as other defenders looked on, curled home a shot from 18 yards in off the post for a fantastic finish.

STAR MEN: ***Willie Easton; **Stephen Grindlay; *Ryan Stevenson.

STIRLING - Christie; Graham, Forsyth, Gibb, Roycroft, O'Neill, Hamilton (McCord 70), Murphy, McKenna (Boyle 83), Grehan, Devine. Unused subs: Corr, Lawrie, Hogarth. Booked: Gibb, Grehan. Booked: Gibb, Grehan; Sent off: Forsyth.

AYR - Grindlay; Dempsie (Williams 58), Walker, Campbell (Henderson 46), McGowan; Weaver (Connolly 64), Aitken, Stevenson, Easton; Prunty, Gormley. Unused subs: Agnew, Stewart. Booked: Prunty

Referee - Neil Watters; Crowd: 779.