Ayr United boss Brian Reid hails second-half show

Feb 11 2011 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

Ayr United boss Brian Reid hails second-half show

BRIAN REID told his Ayr players to win the second-half after kamikaze defending gave Saints a two goal interval lead.

And he was thrilled when they carried out his orders to perfection.

He said: "In the second-half you couldn't see the difference between the teams.

"I wanted to win it shooting into our favourite Somerset Road end and, on another day, we might have got something.

"We had only 11 or 12 fit players so had a bench full of boys from the Academy. No disrespect to them, it meant I had no option to change things whereas St Mirren could wheel and deal.

"That's the situation we find ourselves in and we just have to battle on. Hopefully, we can take a bit of confidence into the league and can challenge for that."

Reid bemoaned individualerrors which gave Saints a comfortable half-time cushion.

He revealed: "We had set a plan but we gave ourselves a big mountain to climb. It's particularly disappointing because we have defended so well this season."

Reid refused to slaughter referee Euan Norris who allowed Michael Higdon to stay on the park after a reckless challenge on Eddie Malone.

He said: "Last week against Stenhousemuir we had a player sent off for something similar. I'm not one of these managers who wants to see players sent off - I actually thought the referee had a decent game so I'm not going to criticise him.

"Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. On another day, he would have been off the park and we could have won it."