Ayr United Youth Academy take the initiative

Feb 27 2009

ALL three Ayr United Youth Academy initiative sides turned in impressive displays in their respective developmental matches.

Under 16 coach Tom Robertson was ‘well pleased’ with his side’s display against Arbroath at Carrick Academy. He said: “This was a good all round team performance. We dominated from the start, played some really good football at times and created a host of chances so it was a good afternoon’s work by the players.”

Keiron Paterson opened the scoring for Ayr who added to their tally with goals from McPake and Roddy Paterson.

Under 15 coach Allan Paul was also satisfied with his team’s display although he lost a number of key players with injuries in the match at home to Queen of the South which was sponsored by Kylemark.

He said: “We dominated for most of the match and played some attractive football. The boys got what they deserved although on another day, maybe we’d be punished more by other teams for not taking our chances.

“However, given that we were already missing a couple of players through injury, the loss of three strikers to injury does stretch us a bit thin in that department.”

Allan Paterson notched Ayr’s first when he followed up to net after Marc Dyer’s effort had been saved while Chris McFadzean scored a fine goal near the end.

The under 14s travelled to Broadwood where Campbell scored a double for the visitors in an evenly matched contest.

Coach Davie White said: “Our work rate and energy was first class but the players know that their possession and composure on the ball must improve.

“ Having the courage to get on the ball in tight games like this is the challenge we have set them but if they work as hard as that each week they give themselves a chance of developing further as a team.”

The under 17s kept up their match practice with a comfortable victory in a friendly at Stranraer. With one league match remaining against newly crowned champions St Johnstone, this proved to be a valuable workout ahead of the impending League Cup ties.

A George Thompson hat-trick and goals from Paul Bunten and Darren Baird earned a 5-0 win.