Cold snap hits Ayr United

Jan 8 2010 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

THE fierce cold snap has left Ayr facing a fixtures backlog and scrambling to train in the ice.

But there was good news on Monday evening when Morton lost 1-0 to Partick, meaning Ayr now have two games in hand to bridge the three point gap on third bottom.

However, Airdrie’s shock 1-0 win at leaders Dundee on Sunday leaves the bottom dogs only one point adrift with two games more played.

Saturday’s Scottish Cup visit of Brechin is set to be the latest weather casualty with a Thursday inspection planned. It will be rescheduled for next Wednesday (January 13).

Ayr have still to find dates for the frozen off games against Partick (home) and trips to Morton and Queen of the South. But these look set to be held back until February.

Boss Brian Reid tried to beat the weather on Tuesday by arranging an indoors bounce game against St Johnstone at Toryglen.

And there are hopes of a closed doors game away to an SPL team on Saturday.

Reid said: “We have training on the beach but even there we are encountering ice. Fortunately, we have been able to use the excellent facilities at Pro Soccer and that has been a saviour.

“We’re now three points behind Morton with two games in hand but we need to win them to make it count.”

The bitter spell has left Ayr idle since December 12 when they lost3-1 to Dundee at Dens Park.

Worringly for the club’s cash flow, not a penny has come through the turnstiles since the win over Dunfermline on December 5.

With only a shared gate from the cup tie against Brechin to look forward to, it makes for tough times.