Mark Roberts magnificent for Ayr United

Mar 6 2009 by Mike Wilson

Queen's Park 0 Ayr UNited 3

KENNY CONNOLLY hailed Mark Roberts for setting him up with his first senior goal and claimed: "He was magnificent."

And boss Brian Reid weighed in with glowing praise for the former Killie man who scored a spectacular opener and laid on both others.

Classy Roberts was too hot to handle for an inexperienced Queen's side who lost to Ayr for the third time this season. And that left them quaking in their boots at the prospect of a visit to Somerset Park last night (Wednesday).

Connolly admitted: "Marko did all the hard work for my goal and left me with a tap-in. Hampden was a great place to score my first goal and I loved playing on the big park which suited us.

"It was a great three points especially with leaders Raith drawing but we took our foot off the pedal in the second-half which was terrible. That let Queen's back into it when we should have kicked on.

"We've got a great squad, great coaches and a great backroom team. We've also got a super record at Somerset which I wasn't aware of until I signed. If we can keep picking up full points at home, it's going to help us on our way to winning the league."

Connolly was kicking himself that he didn't add a second goal near the end when he blazed over following a cross by sub Scott Agnew. And he forgave top scorer Bryan Prunty for a miss of the season contender when he fired wide of a gaping goal from only six yards.

The former Motherwell kid revealed: "Prunts has pulled us out of holes when we've not been winning so we are all in debt to him. And I really should have scored at the end."

Boss Reid admitted he would have put his mortgage on 15 goal Prunty burying the ball after Roberts teed him up with a sitter.

He added: "I thought Roberts was exceptional. He is an intelligent player who brings in the other strikers. Other results went for us so it's a good three points."

Ayr took only 13 minutes to strike when Roberts sent a sensational 18 yard drive rifling into the top corner from a Connolly cross. That came just a minute after Prunty had beat the turf in frustration at not winning a penalty after he seemed to be felled by keeper Zander Cowie.

Neil McGowan and Martyn Campbell made timely clearances before Ayr added a second goal in 24 minutes. This time Roberts turned provider as he cleverly set up Connolly who simply rolled home his shot.

Ayr turned up the heat before the break. Roberts shot just over after Scott Walker got his head to a Chris Aitken free-kick. Then Roberts brought down a Dean Keenan cross but was let down by a poor first touch before he could shoot.

The miss of the match came in 57 minutes when the foraging Roberts laid the ball on a plate for Prunty but the top gun pulled his shot wide.

Ayr then sat back and Queen’s began to grow in confidence. Paul Harkins fired wide from 18 yards while lone striker Adam Coakley had a fresh air swipe to let United off the hook.

The game was done and dusted in 81 minutes when star man Roberts cut the ball back for Ryan Stevenson to bend it home from 12 yards with the outside of his boot.

Queen's coach Gardner Speirs admitted: "The first goal was a great finish by Roberts and I am sure he meant it because he has great quality. Some people say he mis-hit it but not me. I thought Ayr's strikers were excellent and gave our defence a hard time. We were beaten by a team who were better than us on the day. Normally you get a week to do something about a disappointment but we only have to wait four days before we can put on a better show."

STAR MEN: ***Mark Roberts; **Martyn Campbell; *Neil McGowan.

QUEEN'S PARK - Cowie; Ure, Waters, Sinclair, Brough, Quinn (McGrogan 75), Holms, Cairney, Coakley (Watt 70), Harkins, Dunlop. Unused subs: Agostini, Nicholas, Chamberlain. Booked: Sinclair.

AYR - Grindlay; Keenan, Walker, Campbell, McGowan (Dempsie 67); Connolly, Aitken, Stevenson, Borris (Agnew 51); Prunty (Gormley 77), Roberts. Unused subs: Henderson, Mitchell. Booked: Borris.

Referee - Steven Nicholls; Crowd - 1139.