Tam McManus urges Ayr United to grab safety

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

TWO scrappy 1-0 wins and our First Division safety is assured.

That's the message from Tam McManus who admits it's 'incredible' that Ayr United's fate is still in their own hands.

And defender Martyn Campbell, who captained the team in Saturday's 7-0 humiliation by Inverness, has urged the players to rally together.

McManus said: "I have never been beaten 7-0 in my career and I played against some great Celtic and Rangers teams.

"Saturday was embarrassing and I feel sorry for the supporters. To go 3-0 down after 15 minutes never gave ourselves a chance.

"At the end of the day,Inverness and Dundee have the two largest budgets in the league so ourselves and Airdrie are where we should be.

"Even when we were on our good run we were riding our luck a bit. In the last two or three weeks, scores like Saturday have been coming.

"We lost 2-1 to Dunfermline but it was going on seven. And Partick would have beaten us if their strikers had been on form.

"We were dreadful against Inverness but it's still in our own hands which is incredible. Two scrappy 1-0 wins will be enough but we've got to stop giving away cheap goals."

Meanwhile, Campbell wants the players to stick together in their time of crisis.

The club's longest serving player said: "We need to pick ourselves up, rally together and re-find our form. We are so far away from the way we had been playing but we've got to get back to that.

"All the boys are feeling it. Saturday was hard to take.”