Craig Samson says Ayr United can take heart

Dec 18 2009 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

CRAIG SAMSON insisted plucky Ayr can take heart from forcing Dundee's millionaires all the way and claimed: "The scoreline flattered them."

The hero keeper, who has been in top form all season, returned to his old Dens stomping ground and denied his former team-mates for long stages.

But two pieces of magic from Leigh Griffiths and Gary Harkins, who between them cost £275,000, turned the tide after Stephen Reynolds had given Ayr a dream start.

Samson said: "Dundee have players who should be playing in the SPL but we matched them. However, they had a couple of individuals who made things happen.

"I know a lot of the Dundee boys from my time here and if they win the league, then fair play to them. But we are in a relegation battle and have to get out of it."

Disappointed boss Brian Reid claimed he was delighted with the performance but not the result as Ayr refused to play second fiddle to the league leaders.

He sighed: "If we had a Harkins or a Griffiths we could maybe have won the game 3-1. I am very disappointed because I felt at worst we should have got a draw.

"I thought we defended very well – it was a decent performance without getting the result we deserved.

"We've been on a decent run playing quite well but there is a fine dividing line between winning and losing. I felt we could have had something here then one chance falls to Griffiths and he puts it away and the last one drops to Harkins and he gives it the old shimmy before putting it in the corner.

"We created a few chances and on another day might have scored a few ourselves. We know we might have defended two of the goals better but we've got to take belief into Saturday's game against Partick that we can keep the performances going.

"If we can do that, I think we'll win a lot more games than we'll lose."

Ayr couldn't have dreamed of a better start. Only three minutes in, Ryan Stevenson fed the ball to Alistair Woodburn who drove forward before feeding Reynolds.

The 17-year-old on loan St Johnstone striker turned at the edge of the box and fired a low shot past veteran former Scotland keeper Rab Douglas.

Ayr were showing no signs of an inferiority complex and Stevenson, again playing further forward, made space before chipping in a 22 yard left foot drive which Douglas got down to hold.

Samson had his first save of note in 17 minutes when he turned a shot around the post from clever midfield playmaker Harkins.

Dean Keenan sent a drive sailing over before at the other end, Willie Easton did well to crowd out the lively Griffiths who just couldn't be pinned down.

Ayr's defence was breached in 24 minutes despite the best efforts of Samson. He did well to block from Griffiths after the nippy striker raced through on his own but when Eric Paton returned the ball into the box, Craig Forsyth buried a header.

Griffiths and Harkins both went close before Ayr passed by a golden chance to retake the lead in 37 minutes. Kenny Connolly whipped in a cross but Stevenson rose to head over.

The busy Samson had a great save from Colin McMenamim just before the break but the teams turned around all square.

Billy Gibson replacedEaston at half-time with Andy Aitken switching to left-back and the newcomer joining Kevin James in the middle.

Ayr restarted in attacking mode and the hard working Woodburn immediately set up Ryan Borris for a fizzing shot which was beaten away by a relieved Douglas.

Borris then had a great crossfield run before picking out Stevenson but the midfielder turned striker blazed a shot wide as Woodburn galloped on the overlap, waiting the pass that never came.

Griffiths underlined his lightning pace after an hour when he skipped past James only for Samson to again save the day with a super parry.

Stevenson then thundered in a 22 yard effort which Douglas got a hand to and pushed aside.

Just as Ayr were making a real fist of it, the world stopped in 67 minutes. Richie Hart drove through acres of midfield space before finding Griffiths who lashed the ball home in a flash, whipping out the corner flag to celebrate.

Only five minutes remained when Reid made a double switch, sending on fit again strikers Junior Mendes and Mark Roberts for Woodburn and Aitken.

Dundee lived on their nerves as Ayr went all out until Harkins put the lid on victory in the last minute. He danced past Ryan McGowan and then sold Samson a dummy as he squeezed the ball home between keeper and post.

Relieved Dundee boss Jocky Scott admitted: "That was an important result for us as these are the most difficult games when you are top of the league.

"The opposition have nothing to lose as everyone expects us to win. It took us a long time to get there but we did it in the end.

"That's twice recently we have allowed the opposition to get in front and we've had to claw our way back. That's not the way we want to do it."

STAR MEN: ***Craig Samson; **Alistair Woodburn; *Stephen Reynolds.

DUNDEE - Douglas; Paton, Malone, Kerr, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Forsyth, Hart (Cameron 78), Griffiths (Clarke 90), McMenamin, Harkins. Unused subs: Soutar, Benedictus, Young. Booked: Mackenzie.

AYR - Samson; R. McGowan, A. Aitken (Roberts 85), James, Easton (Gibson 46); Woodburn (Mendes 85), Keenan, Connolly, Borris; Stevenson, Reynolds; Unused subs: Grindlay, C. Aitken. Booked: R. McGowan, Easton, Gibson.

Referee - Stephen Finnie; Crowd - 4323.