Call for Ayrshire passengers to get fair rail deals.

Feb 11 2011 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

SO near. And yet so far.

Saturday was a missed opportunity for Ayr United, make no mistake.

St Mirren were beatable and the cup quarter finals were within reach.

Sadly, we paid the SPL strugglers far too much respect in the opening period.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but had we played with two up front from the start, we’d have won.

Then again, poor Brian Reid didn’t have many options.

He was one step away from naming the club’s panda mascot on his bench.

True, we’ve got a fair few injuries at the moment.

But you cannot expect to challenge for promotion with nigh on 11 players.

The club has raked in a mountain of cash over the last six weeks that wasn’t budgeted for this season.

Evidently most of that has gone towards plugging debts and paying creditors.

But surely Reid deserves a fraction of that to get us over the line and back to Division One?

Days like Saturday don’t have to be one-off occasions for a club like Ayr.

We can easily hold our own at a level above and simply need a bit of investment.

It’s crossroads time.

nTHERE was only one way to bounce back from Saturday’s defeat.

By enjoying an episode of the best show on telly.

Take Me Out – the posh man’s Blind Date – is simply stunning banter.

Host Paddy “no likey, no lighty” McGuiness must be one of the funniest men on the box right now.

He’s taken a horrendous concept and actually made it absorbing.

Cilla Black is nothing but a distant memory with this character in town.

Single man – reveal yourself!!!

nTHE return of the RBS Six Nations has got the VoR in a bit of a lather.

I managed to watch two of the opening three fixtures.

Some kind of record for a non-rugby fan, surely?

And I must admit I’m getting right into it.

The smart money seems to be piling on Scotland to beat Wales this weekend.

And given our impressive, if slightly sloppy display in Paris, I reckon we’ll do it.

Looking forward to 5pm on Saturday already.

nOVER in betting corner, tension is beginning to mount.

The business end of the season always separates the wheat from the chaff.

And contest virgin Allan Haggo has to be feeling the sweat beeds running from his sizeable brow.

Only Iain Ferguson scored last week – proof enough that the title challengers are under pressure.

So while the back marker plays merrily on his own, the VoR and Haggo will continue to do battle.

This week, Haggo goes Cardiff 2, Scunthorpe 0.

Fergie pipes in with Liverpool 3, Wigan 0.

And the VoR sayeth Falkirk 2, Morton 0.