Seven goal home defeat is Ayr United’s worst since 1966

Apr 30 2010 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

THE worst since 1966.Eleven goals conceded in back to back home games and confidence at rock bottom.

Can it get any worse for Ayr United whose centenary season was supposed to be one ofcelebration?

A 4-1 caning by bottom of the league Airdrie was bad enough. A seven goal spanking, lapped up by hundreds of celebrating Inverness fans, really rubbed in the gloom.

It was the harshest capitulation on home soil since Dundee United romped to a 7-0 win in September 1966.

Assistant boss Scott MacKenzie sighed: "I am speechless. I can't believe what I have seen out there. A team fighting for their livelihoods in the First Division just rolled over. It's an absolute embarrassment.

"It's one of the worst feelings I have had in football and certainly my worst as a coach.

"We told the players beforehand that Inverness would come for a win and to give their fans a party. We had to be up for the fight but what we said went in one ear and out the other.

"It's the same group of players that went to Inverness six or seven weeks ago and drew 3-3 but should have won. I can't put a finger on it.

"Results aren't going so confidence gets affected but when you are down at the end of the league you need guys to stand up and be counted. We're not getting that.

"We need players who will be brave and take the ball, we need leaders and have to be disciplined and keep our shape but it's just not happening."

MacKenzie conceded that it was up to him and boss Brian Reid to halt the slump before it becomes terminal.

He said: "At the end of the day, the bucks stops with Brian and myself. We pick the team and if the team is doing well, then the inevitable happens.

"If it isn't happening on the pitch, then we at least have to show a bit of fight and passion."

Ayr applauded Caley on to the park and then gifted them three goals in the first 13 minutes.

In only two minutes, Roy McBain's through ball caught Billy Gibson in a fankle, Adam Rooney sent in a shot which Craig Samson could only parry and Jonny Hayes fired into a gaping net.

Butcher's troops doubled their lead seven minutes later. Hayes left two defenders for dead and Richie Foran's cross was easy meat for Rooney to score with a diving header.

Ayr were screaming for mercy. But there was none and when Hayes chipped to the back post after Willie Easton dithered, Foran scored number three with a diving header.

Ayr offered nothing in reply and Martyn Campbell was relieved to turn away a Rooney cross for a corner as the pressure was unrelenting.

Caley grabbed a fourth three minutes before the interval. Danny Lafferty gave the ball away and Hayes dashed to the byeline before cutting the ball back for Eric Odhiambo to score with a simple tap-in.

Ayr actually perked up at the start of the second-half but then there had been room for considerable improvement.

Lafferty had a curling free-kick saved by the previously idle Ryan Esson. Then Ryan McGowan nodded over from a corner before Keenan forced a double save from the keeper after finding himself clear.

Ayr looked a transformed team, albeit it too late, and Gibson saw a netbound shot scrambled off the line by Russell Duncan.

But these efforts were only an interruption and in 75 minutes, Caley made it five. Hayes flighted over a corner and sub Danni Sanchez rose to glide in a header.

Only a great save by Samson denied Sanchez after he skipped past Campbell. But a sixth goal was only delayed and in 85 minutes sub Robert Eagle strode through a pedestrian defence to slip the ball home and signal a pitch invasion by delirious Caley fans.

And the supporters were on the park three minutes later when teenager Gavin Morrison marked his debut by slamming home the seventh direct from a free-kick.

STAR MEN: ***Dean Keenan; **Danny McKay; *Martyn Campbell.

AYR - Samson; Mitchell, Easton, Gibson, Campbell, McGowan, Connolly (Mendes 66), Keenan (Bowey 78), McManus (Roberts 78), McKay, Lafferty. Subs: Grindlay, Woodburn.

INVERNESS - Esson; Proctor, Tokely, Munro, McBain (Bulvitis 26), Morrison, Odhiambo (Eagle 71), Duncan, Foran (Sanchez 64), Rooney, Hayes. Subs: Allison, Statford.

Referee: Steve O'Reilly; Crowd: 1804.