Hot Currie leave Ayr’s title hopes in balance

May 7 2010 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

IT ain’t over until the fat lady sings, but at the moment she is warming up and when she belts forth, it is likely to be a Malleny Melody.

Estimates of the crowd around the Currie ground varied up to around 2,500 divided between the travelling pink and black army and the highly vocal home support.

As Currie eased into an almost uncatchable position at the top of Scottish Hydro Premier One, Ayr and their fans were left to ponder what might have been.

It started as expected, the Currie backs living up to their billing as the highest scoring in Premier One against an Ayr defence who would rather undergo root canal treatment than give away points.

The sparring continued until the eleventh minute when Johnny Smith landed his second penalty attempt with Currie having camped inside the danger zone practically since the off.

Then it was Ayr’s turn after a massive surge on the restart ball and after a penalty to the corner, Andy Dunlop, Pat MacArthur, Scott Sutherland and Damien Kelly all made serious yards until Andy Wilson was held short.

Ayr held the field position until Frazier Climo slotted his first penalty. The Ayr No10 then crafted his side’s only try with a chip which confused Willie Moala enough for Cammy Taylor to show, as he did in the cup final, the alertness of a poacher supreme and pounce for the try.

Climo converted but the pressure pendulum swung back and so sure were Currie that they could breach the Ayr defence that four kickable penalties were plugged close to the line and from the screw being turned, flanker Jamie Thomson was driven over for Smith to convert.

Johnny Smith and Graham White came close to crossing the line but Ayr’s defence, with Dunlop, Paul Burke and Jono Crossan taking no prisoners, held until, from a turnover, Mark Stewart and Kelly took the play into kicking distance for Climo to exact retribution when the penalty came.

He had another chance in injury time after Taylor was taken out but what looked like a certainty into the wind as the ball soared to the posts dropped inches under the bar.

A 13-10 scoreline at the break was all about who had made the most of the pressure positions but into the second half, things started to unravel for Ayr starting with a yellow card for Burke and the levelling score by Smith from the penalty which ensued.

A squint throw inside the Currie twenty two, a forward pass which would have put Dunlop clear and a try saving tackle on a flying Moala by Climo to save a certain score all added to a sense of unease.

Ayr held out during Burke’s absence, the game see-sawed but in the 60th minute, Climo was inches wide with a penalty and that again gave Currie the impetus to plunge back into the fray with even greater ferocity.

Then came the first of two game, even a championship, changing moments.

A massive kick downfield by Grant Anderson looked about to cause any amount of panic but it kept rolling inexorably on the hard ground until it ran dead bringing the scrum back to 20 metres from the Ayr line.

Currie needed no second asking, applied the pressure, Andy Adam and Mark Cairns were both held short but when the inevitable penalty came, Smith made no mistake to put Currie ahead with ten minutes remaining.

As time ran down, Climo put in a monster kick all of 90 metres to the Currie line and with four minutes left Ayr had the penalty.

This was the second defining moment. Such is the self belief in this side, they eschewed the penalty at goal and the draw for the kick to the corner to mount a final attack for the win. They laid siege to the Currie line and any other side in Scotland would have capitulated but Ally Donaldson’s troops thwarted Ayr’s increasingly desperate efforts which saw Kelly put in three massive solo charges and Anderson and Taylor held inches short only for the final penalty to be booted gleefully into touch by a Currie side who knew the title was in their grasp.

Coach Kenny Murray admitted: “We are very disappointed particularly since our discipline let us down badly at crucial times. We were also not as clinical as we should have been when chances came our way and there were times when our decision making could have been better.

“It was a wonderful advert for the Scottish club game yet again and if Currie now go on to win the title, they deserve it.”

Discipline, chance taking and decision making could be faulted but there were also flaws in the tactical game.

These ranged from the failure to use the wind in the second half to pin Currie deep in their own half to the change in the order in which AJ MacFarlane and Jamie Hunter played at No9, reversing their successful roles from the final with MacFarlane playing the first 45 minutes this time.

The decision not to kick the penalty late in the second half will be much discussed and while it is easy to make the call in the relative calm of the press box, after 76 minutes of mind numbing, body tearing, exhausting rugby, no one can fault Ayr for backing themselves to win.

Had they stuck it over however, there were a good few minutes left in which Currie had to restart and give the ball back to Ayr and who knows what would have ensued.

A draw would also have put the pressure on Currie in their final match against Hawks on Saturday to go for the five point win but now the analysis of the situation has them firmly in the driver’s seat.

It goes like this - Ayr play Heriot’s on Thursday night (at Malleny Park since the posts are down at Goldenacre) and if they win with a bonus, Currie need only to draw at Old Anniesland on Saturday to take the title.

Even a five point win for Ayr in their final game against Selkirk on May 15 would only pull them level on league points but Currie would take the title due to their massive point differential advantage.

So it looks like this weekend will see the championship decided and until then the pink and black army can only keep fingers crossed that Ayr win against Heriot’s and that Peter Wright’s men can do Ayr a favour to take the season to an unlikely climax at Philiphaugh.