Ayr United crash to defeat against Stenhousemuir

Mar 4 2011 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

AYR UNITED'S flickering title dream is over after a 3-1 humbling by bottom of the table Stenhousemuir.

Tuesday night's defeat leaves Ayr a massive 16 points behind runaway leaders Livingston.

And although they have three games in hand it would take a miracle of Everest proportions to overhaul the trailblazers.

Now United are anxiously looking over their shoulders as they scramble to hold on to a top four play-off spot.

On Saturday, they head to fifth top Airdrie United who trail by six points with three games more played.

A win would surely leave the Diamonds dead and buried - a defeat and the nerves will be jangling.

Furious boss Brian Reid slammedindividual mistakes and pledged to ring the changes.

And he hinted at a new signing being drafted in for Saturday when Willie Easton will return from suspension.

Reid rapped: “The players know who they are. We can’t keep throwing goals away. You have to fight and scrap for points against teams at the bottom and we didn’t do that.

“I thought we had got the mistakes out of our system when we beat Brechin but we were back to our bad old ways.

“We got a great start but couldn’t capitalise on it. But we weren’t helped by the referee giving a succession of free-kicks against us.”

Former Morton youngster Darren McLean was involved in his third game on the bench. He must now be offered a deal or let go.

Ayr are also being linked with former Scotland under 21 keeper Alan Martin who has been released by Leeds United.

On loan teenager Stuart Bannigan gave Ayr a dream start - for the second game running - popping up at the back post in five minutes to force the ball home.

But after that it all went horribly wrong as the hungry Warriors tore Ayr to shreds.

There had been a host of warnings before Scott Dalziel cashed in on a mix-up between David Crawford and Martyn Campbell to fire into an empty net in 36 minutes.

There was more misery eight minutes into the second-half when Jordan Smith converted a corner with the Ayr defence at sea.

Former United hero Alex Williams came back to haunt his old team in 64 minutes firing home a penalty after a foul by Jim Lauchlan.

Andy Rodgers, Jonathan Tiffoney and Ross Robertson were thrown on for Bannigan, Paul Willis and Mark Roberts.

And there was immediately a spark from Tiffoney who beat two men and squared to Rodgers who fired wide.

STENHOUSEMUIR - Brown; Lyle, Dickson, Gibb (Thom 37), Smith, Thompson, Stirling, Dalziel (Lynch 77), Williams, Paton, Murray. Unused subs: McCluskey, Sloane, Clark. Booked: Stirling.

AYR - Crawford; Lauchlan, Malone, Campbell. Smith; Willis (Tiffoney 74), Trouten, McLaughlin, Bannigan (Rodgers 64); Roberts (Robertson 82), Moffat. Unused subs: Jones, McLean. Booked: Rodgers, Lauchlan.

Referee - John McKendrick; Crowd - 484.

Buses for Airdrie: Ship Inn: 12.45pm, seats £7 from 885766; Campbeltown Bar: 12.45pm, seats from 265775.